Invisible Heart
by Sora-Kairi-4-ever
Summary: Kairi is weak and thinner then usual, but only Sora and Riku realize that she isn't battling Anorexia. There's a heartless inside her. Maleficent's plans get involved, and how do you kill a heartless inside someone, without killing that person? SoKai DONE
1. She's Back

**Authors Note: **Hey, this is my first fan-fic! I hope it isn't that crappy (wince). This first chapter may seem off, but I couldn't really figure out how to start it.

Enjoy (hopefully) and Review please!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts...but God how I wish I owned Riku evil grin

**Claimer: **I do own the plot line :)

**Chapter 1**

**She's Back**

It had been two weeks since they saw her. They didn't recognize her at all when she went into the lunch line, until Riku nudged Sora and frowned.

"Is that...Kairi?" He asked.

Sora looked over at the lunch line and smiled. He waved to Kairi, who noticed him and came over.

Before, it was short skirts, pink things, cute accessories. Now she was wearing extremely baggy pants and a black baggy hoodie. The hood was on, hiding most of her face. She walked over to them and as soon as she set down her tray Sora pulled her into a hug.

"How're you doin' Kai?" He asked, trying to sound casual but failing.

Kairi just shrugged and shook her head.

Riku took a better approach and didn't mention anything. Not about Kairi being in the hospital for two weeks, or the fact that the hospital was for people with eating disorders.

A minute later, however, Sora couldn't help but notice Kairi hadn't touched her food. Riku gave him a 'don't ask' look, but Kairi caught on.

"I'm waiting for the caff lady." Kairi said, speaking for the first time. "I have to go by a stupid eating plan, and soo I have to wait for her to get something."

"Uh...I wasn't even going to ask that." Sora said, but Kairi rolled her eyes.

Sora and Riku were more or less black holes - they were stuffing they're fries in they're mouth like it was their last meal. Kairi was eating her apple slowly, watching them and looking around boredly. Within another five minutes, Riku and Sora were completely done - Kairi was only half done her egg sandwich.

"Why don't you take off the sweatshirt, Kairi?" Riku asked after a moment. "It's like a million degrees in here."

Kairi shook her head, pulling out a cucumber from between the bread and eating it. "I don't want you to see how bad I look."

"Your look pretty." Sora said, pushing back her hood, revealing her face and soft mahogany hair. Her cheeks weren't as rosy - her eyes looked tired, but other then that, Sora thought she looked normal. A group of noisy people sat down and started eating - then noticed Kairi.

"Kai!" Selphie hugged her tightly. "Your back! I missed you."

"I missed you too." Kairi said.

"You don't look anorexic." Wakka said. Sora and Riku kicked him under the table while Kairi chose to ignore it.

"Nice to have ya back, Kairi." Tidus said through a mouth-full of food.

"Thanks." Kairi said quietly.

Another few minutes later and they were all done eating, with the exception of Kairi. Sora was throwing his garbage at Riku in a bored way, seeing how the bell wouldn't ring for half an hour for break.

"Just take it off." Selphie pleaded.

"No." Kairi said flatly.

"Pleeeaassee!" Selphie whined.

"I-"

"You'd look gorgeous even if you shaved your hair!" Selphie said, tugging on her sweatshirt. "Take it off!"

"Fine." Kairi snapped. "But come to the bathroom, I'm not doing it here."

Selphie hopped up and steered Kairi out of the cafeteria, then down to the bathrooms. Kairi locked the door behind them and took a breath before pulling off her sweatshirt.

Selphie tried her best to hide her surprise. Kairi was wearing the school's uniform top underneath, but her arms were pale and extremely skinny. She had obviously put fake tanner on her face, trying to make herself look less sick.

"See?" Kairi's voice cracked. "I look horrible."

"No you don't, Kai." Selphie said in a soft, convincing tone. "You don't look horrible. You look a bit sick, but no where near horrible."

"Thanks Selph," Kairi said, pulling on her shirt. "It means allot."

Selphie gave a smile, her green eyes bright as she surveyed Kairi.

"How long are they letting you wear the normal clothes?" Selphie asked as she pulled out a hairbrush from her purse.

"I dunno, I guess as long as I want - they said it'd be better if I did, probably don't want their school looking bad." Kairi said, watching as Selphie brushed her hair that flicked outwards.

"Well lucky it's casual Friday, but what're you gonna do on Monday? You'll stand out more then if you wore the uniform." Selphie pointed out.

"I dunno, maybe I'll wear the colors or something so I don't stand out." Kairi took the brush from Selphie and started doing her own hair.

"We're going to a movie tonight, you're going to come, right?"

Kairi paused, frowning at her reflection.

"I don't know..." She said quietly.

"Well if I can't convince you, which I probably will, Sora's whining will get you to go."

"What's that mean, Sora's whinning?" Kairi asked.

"He was really...concerned for you, Kai. We haven't seen you in two weeks or heard anything from you, Sora must be really happy to get you back."

"Why Sora?" Kairi asked. "Aren't you or Riku or the others?"

"We were worried!" Selphie's eyes showed she was telling the truth. "It's just, Sora was worried because he totally digs you."

Kairi's pale, fake tanned face went pink. "No he doesn't!" She said quickly.

"And you like hi-"

"No I don't!" Kairi said quickly. "I don't like him at all! H-he's just a -er-friend..." She stuttered and finished lamely.

"Yeah alright, let's go back to the table and say hi to Sora the -just-your-friend guy."

"Selph...you do know that made no sense?"

"I almost ran out of come backs with you gone." Selphie shook her head. "So good thing your back - I'm losing my touch!"

Kairi smiled, shook her head at the incredibly random Selphie, then went back to the lunch room.

**Part 2**

_tick._

Friggin

_tock._

annoying

_tick._

damn

_tock._

slow

_tick._

clock.

The history's clock was probably from history, and that was why it was a million times slower then other clocks. That was Kairi's theory, anyway. She watched Mr. Valentine write notes on the board about wars and who knows what else - for all she knew, he was writing out his secret way of taking over the world. Or a cake recipe - Kairi couldn't read the friggin words. They looked like kids scribbles. Which meant she actually had to pay attention to what he was saying and write it down.

"And then Grescent killed Robert-" Mr. Valentine's monotone rang out through the silent room, along with the loud ticking.

_Geez,_ Kairi thought. _If this was Sora or someone else telling the story, it'd be so interesting!_

For the next ten minutes Kairi found herself day-dreaming about Sora pushing the teacher out the window and taking on the lecture, emphasizing the fights and running around the room, getting all excited as he described every little detail. Yup, that was Sora alright. A hand waved in front of her face and she jumped. Someone touched her foot under the desk and, making sure Mr. Valentine had his back to her, Kairi placed her foot on top of a ball of paper and pulled it towards her. Kairi quickly picked up the note before the teacher noticed and unfolded it, sticking it behind her history book. It was they're old way of passing notes during class, and if anyone found it they didn't know who it was to.

KoolKey: U coming to the movies 2nite?

Kairi wrote down under it:

Strawberry - I guess, I dunno, what if we get homework?

As Kairi passed it, it got intercepted by Riku. She watched Mr. Valentine until she felt the nudge. Picking it up when the teacher turned, she read three new sentences.

Shutit : We got all weekend for homework

Bubble jet: And if you don't come I...well I'll think of something bad to do

KoolKey: Pleeeaaazzee

It took Kairi several minutes to decipher who everyone was - they had changed names while she was gone. Of course she was Strawberry, and KoolKey had to be Sora. Shutit was Riku because he had been the first one to write when Kairi passed it and Bubble Jet was Selphie.

Selphie had just kicked another note:

Bubble Jet: I'll tell everyone you like Sora!

Almost before Kairi had finished reading it she had wrote,

Strawberry - Yeah sure - bell rings in three minutes!...or on this clock it'll seem like thirty minutes...

After History Kairi headed down to the change rooms with the others - next was gym, done by the two most, well, loudest teachers. Usually girls went Wednesday, boys Monday, and Friday was everyone.

It was easily one of the most awkward moments for Kairi. While everyone went into the gym in shorts and tank-tops, Kairi walked in in the same baggy clothes.

"I want ten laps! You stop, I make it twenty!" Mr. Highwind barked. "GO!"

He looked over at Kairi and opened his mouth, ready to yell, but then closed it and walked over. They talked quietly for a second before Kairi took a seat on the sidelines.

"Mullet!" Highwind shouted. "Ten more laps, I don't need you gawking at me! Potter! Drop and give me thirty! I SAW YOU ROLL THOSE EYES!! FOURTY PUSH-UPS!"

After the laps were done, Kairi followed them outside and took a seat on the bleachers. They had to run another five laps, and then went into warm ups. Normally, Kairi was one of the more popular girls, since her and her friends were one of the coolest crowd. But she kept getting rude looks thrown her way from the other girls. Half an hour later they were throwing around footballs and going to start a game of dodge ball. Kairi couldn't help but smile when Sora accidently sacked Wakka in the nuts. After two rounds the coaches let the kids take a break and drink some water - there was still another hour or so of Gym / school to finish. While the others were drinking water and catching their breath, Kairi distinctly heard a girl say,

"What is up with her? She thinks just because she's some anorexic shit that she doesn't have to get a little muddy?"

Kairi felt herself burn with anger. They didn't know, they had no idea-

But she was sparred the evil words when Riku said scathingly,

"Yeah and I heard you got an abortion last week - That would be why your afraid to get _your_ feet dirty, right?"

There was laughter, but the girl looked shocked. The look on her face made it seem like, 'how did you know?' which prompted even more laughter.

Kairi, however, didn't find it as amusing. She got up, walked down the bleachers and headed off in the direction of the school.

**Part 3**

"What's their problem?" Sora asked once the bell rang for end of school.

"You tell me." Riku said, watching as the girls passed.

"I mean, they can't honestly think that she wanted to go there-" Sora got cut off by Wakka jumping between them, followed by Tidus.

"Tuff workout, ya?" Wakka asked.

"Next time wear your jock, Wakka!" Tidus grinned. "Unless you want Sora to sack you again."

"Where's Kairi?" Selphie asked, distracting the boys from another fight. "Never mind, I'll just call her..."

"Kairi." Selphie said clearly into the cell phone. There was dialing sound, then a ringing.

"Heyy it's Selphie...where are you? ...No you aren't..." Selphie glanced behind her and did a double take. "Oh."

She closed the cell phone as Kairi walked towards them, looking tired.

"Heyy! m'kay so we're meeting up for the movie at six-thirty, okeey-dokeey?" Selphie asked cheerfully. Kairi nodded slowly, leaning against her closed locker.

"Hey Kairi are you-" Sora started to ask, but in the next second Kairi slid sideways from the locker. Sora quickly caught her, one hand on her side and the other on her elbow.

"Kairi!" Riku said. "What's wrong?"

"I..." Kairi's eyes were sliding in and out of focus. Sora lifted her higher, so she was standing but leaning on Sora.

"Kai are you gonna be alright?" Selphie asked in a fearful voice. Kairi's vision swam. She closed her eyes and opened them.

"I feel kinda funny." She said.

"We should take her to the nurses," Sora said in a scared voice. "Riku, can you-"

Riku got on the other side of Kairi and lifted her into his arms.

"I was going to say get a teacher..." Riku heard Sora mutter, but followed him down to the nurses office anyway.

Once down there the nurse said to lay Kairi down on the bed, then kicked them out.

"So rude." Selphie said, planting her hands on her hips.

"Think we should wait around?" Sora asked.

"She won't let us in." Tidus said.

"Yeah but what if Kairi needs help gettin' home?" Sora casually placed his hands behind his head.

"Then they call her parents, doofus." Wakka rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

"Should we really be here?" Selphie asked. "I mean, shouldn't we be like comforting Kairi, not watching a movie? She could be really sick!"

"Whose sick?" Kairi walked over to them, hands in her pockets.

"Kairi! Feelin' better already?" Selphie asked cheerfully. Kairi nodded.

"I just had a dizzy spell, I had them alot when...I was back, y'know, there...Anyway what movie we seeing?"

"How 'bout Advent Children?" Tidus asked through a mouthful of popcorn.

Riku scowled. "That movie is so not cool. It's a bunch of silver-haired wanna be's beating up other spiky haired wanna be's."

Sora looked up innocently at the words 'spiky hair'.

"You haven't even seen the movie, Riku." Selphie said. "How do you know you won't like it?"

"Well it's either that or some sappy love story." Wakka said. "Or like Harry Pot-head."

"...You like Harry Potter." Sora looked questionably at Wakka.

"Yeah but Harry Pot-head sounds so much cooler."

Selphie cleared her throat. "So that's a yes on Advent Children?"

They murmured their agreement, bought tickets and popcorn, then settled into theater 9.

"THIS MOVIE'S BORING!" Tidus said loudly, attempting to throw popcorn at the screen but hitting several people instead.

"It's the preview." Kairi said, biting licorice.

"Get to the movie!!" Sora called, throwing popcorn at Wakka, who threw it at Riku.

"Well we're going to get kicked out." Selphie sighed.

"Just act like we don't know them." Kairi gave a smile. The good thing about the movies was that it was dark, so she didn't feel too awkward.

**A/N: **Yeah so that _is _a plot hole, having Advent Children in there, but I couldn't resist. Plus only Sora, Kairi and Riku would know about Cloud so...yeah. That's my only plot hole. As to the part two and three things, that's only for this chapter, because I couldn't decide if it was to long or not.

If you review mine I'll review yours


	2. The Heartless on the Island

**Authors Note: **Yay, Chappie two!I forgot to mention this story takes place six months after Kingdom Hearts 2. Uhm my friend pointed out that it seems like Sora and Riku are going to the island to get it on...they're not...just don't ask, lol.

**Chapter 2**

**The Heartless on the Island**

"Anybody seen Kairi?" Sora asked, sitting down for lunch at the cafeteria the next day.

"No, I think she's sick." Selphie said. "She didn't seem to good yesterday."

"Maybe we should swing by and see her later." Sora suggested.

"Uh, yeah, I would, if it wasn't for the freaking MOUNTAIN of homework I have." Tidus said.

"We didn't get any last period." Riku said, looking at him.

"Or first period." Sora said. "We haven't gotten any..."

"Yeah, but you probably finished everything on time, ya?" Wakka said. "And if you don't hand it in on time we get practically double, ya?"

"I can't go down either." Selphie shook her head. "Mom wants to take me shopping after school."

"Oh...okay." Sora shrugged. "Guess me and Riku will just go then."

So after school the two said good-bye to the others and headed down towards Kairi's house.

"I hope she's feeling better." Sora said as they walked, his hands laced behind his head.

"Yeah...why do you think she's Anorexic, though?"

Sora frowned side ways at him.

"I dunno." He said. "I wouldn't ask her though."

"I know. Just wondering."

They reached Kairi's house within fifteen minutes. They went up the pathway lined with flowers and knocked on the brown door. It took a few minutes of knocking, but the door finally inched open and Kairi stood there, looking pale and tired.

"Oh." She said faintly. "Hey guys. I don't mean to be rude, but I really don't feel up for visitors right now."

"Oh. That's alright." Sora smiled. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay...are you?"

"I'll live." Kairi smiled slightly. "You guys enjoy the sunshine, I'll see you later."

"Are you sure our alright?" Riku asked.

"Oh yeah. Just a longer dizzy spell, I'll be fine." She gave another weak smile and closed the door.

"Now what?" Sora asked, hands behind his head as they walked away.

"I dunno. Feel like heading to the island?" Riku asked.

"No ones there, though." Sora sighed.

They paused and looked at each other.

"Hey- perfect! No ones there! Let's go!" Sora grinned, and they hurried off in the direction of the docks.

It took roughly fifteen minutes to get to the island, each in their own boat. Once there they ties their little wooden boats to the dock and looked around.

"Good." Riku said. "The coast is clear."

They went around the side of the island, circling it almost halfway.

"I'm actually surprised no ones found this." Riku mused.

They paused and looked up at what seemed to be a cluster of palm trees.

"I'm surprised Wakka didn't walk into it." Sora chuckled softly. He raised his un-gloved right hand and a bright light formed at it. Kingdom key appeared in his hand. Looking to his left, Sora saw that Riku had called The Way to Dawn.

Together they raised their Keyblades, pointing them at mid air in front of them. There was a slight clicking noise and a whoosh as a Gummi Ship materialized out of thin air.

"Let's check this out." Riku grinned and opened the Gummi Ship door, which was three feet off the ground. Sora pulled himself up after Riku and glanced around.

It was like a normal Gummi, with the cockpit and chairs. There were loads of buttons scattering the control panel. Sora barely gave it a second glance - he had been in here loads of times before. Riku pressed a round purple button with green swirls, and a computer screen came down.

"How many do you think there'll be?" Sora asked.

"None." Riku said confidently, typing a few things.

"Heartless Scan." The automated computer voice said. "Scanning the perimeter..."

There was a pause, then the computer said in the same electronic tone,

"Clear."

"Told you." Riku grinned as Sora sat down.

"Well that's good to know." Sora said. "Guess it means we're doing our job right."

"I can't believe it's already six months." Riku leaned back in his chair.

"What, since we defeated the Organization?" Sora asked.

"And went through the door of light and saved the worlds and-"

"Made it back here." Sora grinned and leaned back in the chair, arms behind his head. He slipped backwards and almost toppled his chair over, but managed to keep upright.

"Your so clumsy." Riku smirked, shaking his head.

"Am not!" Sora pouted.

"I'm surprised we didn't defeat Xemnas by you tripping on him and knocking him down." Riku said, enjoying teasing the younger boy. Sora stuck his tongue out.

"Seriously, though," Sora said, his face going, well, serious. "You were really great back there. Just...congrats."

"Congrats? What'd I do, get married?" Riku's face went more serious as he added. "But you we're great back then, too. So I guess...congrats as well."

Riku held out his fist and Sora playfully hit it.

"Well since we have the run of the island we can-" Sora started, but the computer interrupted.

"Island scan complete. Detected 1 Heartless."

"What?!" Sora and Riku both yelped.

"We should get Kairi." Sora said, hopping off the Gummi Ship.

Once they got to Kairi's house, she opened the door looking better. She opened her mouth to say hi when,

"Kairi, we have an emergency." Sora interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked with a frown.

"How are you feeling?" Riku pressed.

"Better, my dizziness is gone-"

"Perfect. Come with us." Riku said.

Bewildered, Kairi shut the door and followed them down the path.

"Where're we going? What kind of emergency?" Kairi asked.

"The Island, and we'll tell you when we get there." Riku said.

Sora got in his rowboat and Riku his, then Kairi sat down to slide into Sora's. The little boat got rocked and her foot slipped as she landed in it. Sora quickly caught her by the waist. Their faces we're close - almost nose to nose. Sora quickly helped sit her down on the seat and trying to hide his blush, he sat down and started rowing. It was a mark of how nervous Riku was that he didn't tease Sora, though Sora was sure he would get a noogie or something like that later.

"Will you guys _please_ tell me what's going on?" Kairi asked as they got out of the boats.

"We ran a Heartless scan," Sora said, following Riku around to the side of the island.

"So?" Kairi asked. "It didn't...was there a Heartless?"

"Yeah." Sora said as they reached the place where the red and yellow Gummi ship stood out.

Riku pulled himself into the Gummi and Sora laced his fingers, helping Kairi up. Sora pulled himself inside to find Kairi and Riku looking at the screen, which was black and had neon green words flashing,

1 HEARTLESS

"When did you scan it?" Kairi asked.

"Just before we came to get you." Riku said.

"Did you do a Navigator?" Kairi said. The boys looked at her blankly.

"Uh...was I the only one listening when Chip and Dale told us how to run this?" Kairi asked. The two boys nodded and Kairi rolled her eyes, sitting down in the chair in front of the computer.

She started typing, her fingers running across the keyboard. The words vanished on the screen to be replaced by a map.

"Is that the Islands?" Sora asked, tilting his head.

Kairi didn't answer, but continued typing until the computer said,

"Locating heartless..."

A red circle was circling the map. It then landed around the island they were on.

"At least the other people are safe, then." Sora said, looking at the larger island on the map.

"Zoom," Kairi muttered and typed those four letters. The computer zoomed in on the spot, showing more of the Island.  
Kairi typed zoom again and it went closer, the circle on the side of the island. Kairi typed the word one last time and-

"No," Riku said, his mouth going dry as he looked at the screen.

"That can't be." Sora said, his eyes wide.

"It's on the _ship?!_" Riku said. "C'mon, let's search it. Might be in the engine room."

The three went down to the engine room, but came up with nothing.

"Let's check the computer again." Kairi suggested.

"Wait..." Riku said softly as he zoomed in on the ship. The red circle was beeping right around-

"K-Kairi?"

**A/N: **Phht this was supposed to end way more dramatically, but I moved Kairi to the tech expert, since Sora would just bang on the Keyboard.

Chapter three is going to take awhile, since the plot line for it is half a page and that's just the quick details. But who knows, it could end up shorter. I would have had it done last night if a spider wasn't by the computer (whimper). Okay so 1 Heartless is a Heartless, but what if their six? Their Heartless-ess? My head hurts...

Thanks to those who reviewed, honestly I was surprised anyone did, since I've never posted any stories before.

Please Reveiw! I'll review one of yours, ...plus you get a cookie, and who the heck doesn't like those :)?


	3. Weekend in Radiant Garden

**Authors Note: **I keep forgetting to mention things! I wanted to say that this is actually only a slight SoraxKairi, they aren't dating or anything, and they deny liking each other, worried that the other doesn't, etc. This chapter's pretty long, btw. Ack and I messed up on the scan thing, (In chapter 2) it was supposed to search for Nobodies, too...oh well beginners mistake and it's not a plot point, anyway. Check my bottom A/N too after for a hint on Chapter 4. So here you go - Chapter 3!

**Chapter 3**

**A weekend in Radiant Garden**

"It can't be, there must be something wrong with the computer," Sora started, but Riku took a different tactic.

"Sora, she may be a Heartless impersonating Kairi." Riku said, calling his Keyblade. Sora looked unsure, but seemed tense, as if ready to fight.

"Whoa, hey!" Kairi said. "Snap back to reality here, do I seem like a Heartless? They aren't smart enough to talk!"  
Sora recalled two years previously, when a Heartless briefly turned to into Bell.

"Then maybe your a Nobody." Riku said, moving a step closer.

"The scan said Heartless," Kairi said, frowning at Riku.  
Riku swiftly moved next to her, the blade close to her neck.

"Hey, it's _me_! Really!'' Kairi said, looking scared.

"Cut it out, Riku." Sora said, looking mad at his older friend. "It's her."  
Riku let the Keyblade disappear and looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, Kairi." Riku apologized. "But we can't take any chances."

"Look, the computers probably malfunctioning." Kairi said patiently. "Computer, run diagnosis."

The computer's screen changed to a list of different parts of the ship, each with a 0 next to it, which slowly filled as the computer tested. A minute later the computer announced the diagnosis was complete - everything was at 100.

"Maybe there's a problem with the diagnosis." Sora suggested as the screen went back to the map. "Riku and I can check it out in the engine room, okay?" Kairi nodded and Riku followed Sora.

"Dude, what was that?" Sora hissed.

"What? She could have been a Heartless, what was I supposed to do?" Riku hissed back.

"She's Kairi! That's that, you shouldn't have scared her, she's sick enough, being Anorexic and all."

A grin slowly slid on Riku's lips. "Maybe your worried...because you like her?"

Sora made a face. "Riku? Shut up. We're supposed to be looking over the ship."

Sora turned away to hide the slight blush on his face. He started looking over the ship, but could see no visible damage.

"So what's this supposed to mean?" Kairi asked as Sora and Riku came out from the engine room. Riku sighed. "I guess it means something's really not right. This is considered an emergency, we can use the Gummi ship."  
"Right." Sora said.  
"Hollow Bastion, here we come."  
"How many times do I have to tell you? It's Radiant Garden!"

* * *

At 5am the next morning the air was still, not a drop of dew seeing how it was only late September. There was the sound of light footsteps as a girl walked down her path, a backpack on her shoulders. It was Saturday, so everyone was sleeping in. 

_Something I wish I could be doing! _Thought Kairi. _Oh well. Maybe Sora and Riku'll let me sleep on the ship, after I make sure they know what their doing._

Kairi got to the docks and noticed two boats missing.

_Figures._ She thought. _Even when I'm on time, I'm late. _

She carefully climbed into her row boat, hitting the water with her paddles. Even though there were waves, the ocean seemed to be sleeping, too.

_Screw making sure Sora and Riku know what their doing! I'm so tired I wouldn't know if they crashed the ship!_

Kairi pulled up to the island, got out and pulled the boat onto the sand. She pulled off her flip flops and walked on the sand, continuing into a jog as she hurried past the palm trees to the spot where the Gummi Ship lay hidden, only showing itself to the Keyblade masters. As she jogged she couldn't help but notice the cave, or as they called it, 'secret place'. Kairi bit her lip and checked her watch. almost five minutes late, but who knew when she'd see this place again? Quickly running over, she ducked through the opening and went down the little tunnel. Standing in the middle, Kairi spun slowly, looking at everything, her eyes coming to a rest on the drawing of her and Sora sharing a paupo. They never really talked about the drawing, only once after Sora got back two months ago. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was coming, Kairi quickly kissed the rock for good luck -exactly between Sora's lips and the paupo. Giving a faint smile, Kairi got to her feet and ran out of the cave.

"Where have you been?" Sora grinned, looking over at Kairi. He was standing in the water with his shoes off, while Riku leaned against the ship.

"Sorry, I...well,"

"You had to be a girl and take forever to do your hair?" Riku raised an eyebrow. Kairi felt embarrassed.

"Well it's not going to look good on it's own!" Kairi pouted. Riku smirked while Sora chuckled and came over to them.

"Well let's get going! We want to be there by nine at the latest." Sora said, pulling on his socks and black and grey shoes while Riku took Kairi's back pack.

"Did you tie your ship down?" Riku asked while Kairi climbed in.

"Nope - left it on the beach, just like we planned." Kairi replied.

"Good. I hope our cover works."Riku sat in front of the control panel.

"We haven't scanned of the Heartless, but we'll do it now." Sora said, sitting next to Riku.

"Great," Kairi yawned. "Well I'm gonna go to sleep, okay?"

"Didn't you just do you hair perfect?" Riku teased.  
"Hey, sleep is wayy more important to me!" Kairi grinned and headed down the hall to her room.

A Heartless continued coming closer - shadows crept around her vision - and a faint voice, calling out her name.  
"_Wake up..._"  
The Heartless advanced, as if sensing something. It's antennae perked up and it suddenly lunged, about to hit her-  
"_Wake up!_"  
Kairi yelled and sat up, her forehead smashing into something else.

"Ow!" Kairi said as someone else yelled at the same time.

"Oh!" Kairi opened her eyes to see Sora, clutching his head. "I'm sorry Sora! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Now worries." Sora managed a grin. "But are you feeling okay?"

Kairi nodded. "Are we at Radiant Garden?"

"Mm-hmm. We got here early, too. There wasn't any trouble."

"What time is it?" Kairi yawned, getting out of bed.

"7am." Sora looked apologetic. "We could let you sleep longer if you like, I know you probably aren't feeling well..."

"Oh, no, I'm fine." Kairi said, walking out the door with Sora behind her.

"Ready?" Riku asked, leaning casually against the door. The two nodded and stepped outside.

Radiant Garden looked peaceful in the morning hours. The sun had risen very slightly and reflected off the many little houses and stone. The Market Place had no people - probably to early to be there on a Saturday. The three walked casually through and headed in the direction of Merlin's house. When they got in front of it, however, it looked different. The house on the side of it seemed to have been remade and connected to Merlin's house. Two things sprouted out of the roofs - they were metal and pipe like, and Sora wondered vaguely what they were for. Sora stepped forward and pushed open the door.

It was almost pitch black inside, though they could make out several beds on the left side of the room. To the right, where there used to be a wall, now had a corner, though Sora and the others couldn't see what was around it. As their night vision kicked in, they went closer to the beds, Sora recognized three of the shapes.

"Donald, Goofy, Your Majesty!" Sora's shouts aroused the others and they jumped up.  
Sora was knocked to the ground by Leon. "Wait! It's us, Sora, Riku and Kairi!" Sora shouted and all fights ceased at once.

Lights flickered on in the room and Sora saw Kairi had been knocked to the floor by Yuffie. Sora was about to help her up, but Yuffie beat her to it. Riku and Cid had clashed weapons and stood looking into each others eyes.

"Sora?" Leon asked in disbelief. "Riku? Kairi? What're you doing here? You know your not supposed to come here unless-"

"It is an emergency." Riku said.  
Sora could see everybody now - Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith and Cid were all there.

"What's going on?" Goofy asked.

"We ran a Heartless scan," Sora explained. "On the island. And one came up, as being on the ship. We searched it but nothing was there - we ran diagnosis and everything, but can't figure out what's up? ...So you think there's some dark magic behind this?" Sora added.  
Leon looked thoughtful.

"Hmm...how 'bout we run the search from here and see what comes up?" Leon walked around the corner, the new part of Merlin's house. Sora's mouth fell open slightly and Riku looked mildly surprised. Dozens of huge computers covered the room, all with huge screens and huge keyboards, each demonstrating a different thing. A big purple one seemed to run the town's defenses, while a red one obviously had blueprints for the town's rebuilding. Leon sat down in front of a navy blue one with a sky blue keyboard and started typing. A map of the town came up, and Riku frowned.

"It's not circling the Gummi Ship..." He said. Leon zoomed and found the red circle blipping around the house they were in.

"Kairi..." Leon said slowly as he zoomed in. "Could you go back in the other room for a sec?"  
Kairi did as Leon asked, walking slowly back into the other room.

"What...?" Sora stared in amazement as the blip followed Kairi.

"Kairi, come back!" Donald called and Kairi came back, looking confused.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked. Leon pointed to the screen.

"The Heartless radar...is picking up you."

"She's not a Heartless!" Sora burst out."No, she isn't." Leon agreed. "But there may be one inside her."  
There wasn't even a silence.

"What? On top of her being anorexic?" Sora burst out.

"Anorexic?" The others repeated.

"Sora," King Mickey said gently. Sora jumped - he had forgotten he was there. "Maybe Kairi isn't Anorexic...maybe it's the Heartless within her."

"But how would a Heartless get in her?" Riku asked.

"Maybe when she was within Sora." Aerith said thoughtfully. "Because her body was vacant at the time."  
The others lapsed into silence, thinking.

"But...if there's a Heartless in her...could the heartless control her?" Sora asked.

"Possibly." Leon said. "But we don't know for sure...I don't think I've heard anything like this before. But one things for sure...with a Heartless inside of her, Kairi won't last long."

Since the trio hadn't gotten much sleep, Leon told them to rest up for a few hours. While they were sleeping, Leon and the others could look up more on Kairi's sickness.  
Tired as they were, Sora and Riku only managed about an hour of sleep. They sat on Riku's bed, looking at Kairi sleeping and talking in quiet voices.

"Looks like we might be here for awhile." Sora whispered.

"Yeah." Riku replied. "They'll wonder where we went on the Islands, but I'd rather be here with Kairi." Riku gave Sora a look, as if daring him to disagree.

"Think we should go down to Ansem's study?" Riku whispered after a moment.

"Will she be alright here?"

"You bet she will!" A rowdy voice sad, making Sora and Riku jump. They looked around the somewhat small room and saw Cid's face on one of the huge screens. "We got camera's around the rooms!" Cid boasted. "I'll keep my eye on her, you get down here and help Leon and the others."

"Oh!" Yuffie's voice said, jumping into view on the screen. "By the way, you talk in your sleep, Sora!"

"Great..." Sora said sarcastically.  
Riku opened the wooden door quietly. Sora gave Kairi a fleeting look before following Riku out.

The sun was up now, shimmering around the rooftops. Sora and Riku hurried up a long flight of stairs. It took about five minutes to get to Ansem's study, and luckily they didn't run into any Heartless or Nobodies.

"There you two are."Donald said impatiently as they got in the room.

"What's going on?" Sora asked.

"Gawrsh, we're trying' to get in touch with that there Tron fellow!" Goofy said.

"He may know something about how to cure this." King Mickey said.

"In the meantime-" Leon gave Sora a huge stack of books. Sora took them from Leon, and promptly fell to the ground. Riku took his stack without stumbling. "Go through these. Try and find anything and everything you can on Heartless." Leon said.

"We have to read them ALL?!" Sora asked.

"Well you can." Riku said. "But I think I'll just go through the index."

Sora looked embarrassed, thinking he could be so dumb sometimes, but just then there was a beeping noise from the blue computer that Tron was in.

"I have something that may help you." Tron said.

"Tron! It's great to hear your voice again!" Sora said excitedly.

"Great to hear from you too, Sora." Tron replied happily.

"Uhm, back to the thing that might help us?" Riku said. He was never fond of Sora's friends. King Mickey was an exception.

"Right, right. So far the only thing I've come up with is a potion that will keep Kairi with us for a bit longer. She has to take it everyday, but as long as she does, she should stabilize until we find out how to cure her."

"Great!" Sora cheered. "So what do we need?"

"Yamana petals, Regal skin, Goahada's leaves, Kingsman juice, 3 Hi-potions and an Ether."

"Alright, then let's go get them!" Sora said, happy that there was a way to make Kairi feel better, even if just for awhile. He didn't notice the looks on the others faces.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"Sora, Hi-potions and Ether's are easy enough...but Regal skin, Goahada's leaves and Kingsman juice is hard to find...plus the Yamana flower is extinct, how are we to get the petals?" Yuffie asked carefully.

"No!" Sora shouted. "There has to be a way, I'm not giving up!"  
The others gave him weak smiles.

"No one said we're giving up, Sora." Leon said firmly."We can use three little scouts..."  
"Y!"  
"R!"  
"P!"  
Three girls voices shouted. There was a bright light, and three little fairy's appeared. Donald crossed his arms and started tapping his foot. The fairy's got on his nerves easy.  
"Hey, we need you three to find some stuff for us!" Yuffie said, holding out the list that Tron had printed. "And make sure to get double what's on the list."

"Yeppers!" Rikku said excitedly. Riku winced - why did this hyper little thing have to share his name?

"We'll get right on it!" Yuna said.

"You can count on us." Paine said, and the three disappeared.

"I'll continue scanning the database for something." Tron said.

"In the meantime, we can go through all these books! Huyck!" Goofy exclaimed, pulling out books. Sora groaned.

"This is just as bad as school." He muttered.

* * *

"Alright!" Rikku said. "Let's start by getting six hi-potions and two ethers!" 

"Fine by me." Paine said. The three little fairy's appeared in the courtyard, where all the shops were.

"Rikku, you distract the shop owner, I'll get the items." Yuna said.

"Right-o!" Rikku exclaimed. She flew over to the shop owner.

"So, like, hi!" Rikku said, thinking fast. If she asked about items, he'd surely turn around and see Yuna taking them. "Er...I'm with the committee of...ah...potion remembering! Yeah!" Rikku heard Paine slap her forehead.

"Uhm...we're doing a quiz, see...to, to...make sure working with the fumes of the potion hasn't made you forget you memory! Now, where can we get..." Rikku bit her lip, then came up with an idea. "Where can we get Kingsman juice?"

"Kingsman juice?" The man repeated, scratching his head. "Well lemme think here...I know I had some just the other day, but it sold out..."

"You did?" Rikku asked.

"Yep, dardest thing...now where did I get it...oh I remember now! There's a tree, in the ravine, see, and there's these things that grow on 'em. Sort of shaped like a plum, only perfectly round and apple red. If you squash em, Kingsman juice should come out."

"Really?!" Rikku was so surprised, she didn't notice Yuna waving for them to go.

"Oh, right, thanks, gotta go!"

Rikku quickly relayed the information to her comrades.

"That just leaves three more items." Paine said. "And I think I know where to get the leaves."

"Really? Where?" Yuna asked.

"What better place to check then a tea shop?" Paine asked. They looked at her blankly and she sighed. "Rikku, go pick the fruit or whatever it is that has Kingsman Juice and come find us, alright?"

"Right-o!" Rikku said and flew off.

The remaining to fairy's went through Marketplace, which was now much bigger. There were little stands around, but there was also ones built of wood, or some that people used as a shop downstairs and a flat upstairs. Paine led Yuna to a cute looking wooden shop and went in.

Inside was hazy, like something was brewing. It smelled like fumes, too, but the fairy's liked it. They weren't bad fumes, like a skunk, they seemed almost peaceful.

"Hello?" Yuna called. "Anyone home?"

"Back here." An elderly lady's voice answered. The duo followed the voice to a back room, where an older women with grey hair tied back was mixing something in a pot, whispering words under her breath.

"We needed to ask-" Yuna started, but the woman waved an impatient hand.

"Not now, not now." She chirped. "First, you try."  
She dipped a mug into the pot and pulled it up, revealing a yellow liquid in it. She held it out to Yuna.

"Try, try! Then you may ask." The woman insisted.  
Yuna looked at Paine uncertainly, who shrugged. Taking a breathe and fearing the worst, Yuna slowly took a sip.

"It's...it's..." Yuna said, making a face. "...Lemonade!" Her expression turned to delight.

"Course it's lemonade, silly girl. But what you think? Too much sugar?"

"No, it's great!" Yuna said, chugging down the rest. Paine cleared her throat loudly.

"I believe we were looking for something." She said pointedly.

"O-oh right!" Yuna looked embarrassed.

"Do you know where we can find Goahada's Leaves?" Paine asked.

"Gohada's Leaves? I have some in back...but it will cost you." The elderly woman smiled mischievously.

"How much?" Paine asked dully.

"Well, since you test lemonade...buy two lemonade and I give you half price! 500 munny for package."

"And...how much is the lemonade?" Yuna asked carefully.

"75 each!"

"640 munny?" Paine said. "I guess it's not that bad of a deal..." She pulled the orbs out from her pocket and handed them over.

"Good, good!" The woman said, taking the munny and standing up. When she disappeared into the back, Paine muttered to Yuna,  
"Leon better pay us back for this."

Once the two fairy's were outside, Gohada's leaves in hand, they saw Rikku flying towards them at full speed.

"Hey!! Hey!!" She squealed, skidding to a stop.

"What's up?" Yuna asked.

"There's a HUGE snake by the tree!" Rikku squealed. "I managed to get a fruit before it attacked, but we need more!"

"Alright," Paine smirked, pulling out her mini sword. "Let's go."

The three fairy's flew out of marketplace and down to the ravine. Sure enough, a purple and black snake, at least fifteen feet long and 4 feet wide, was circling the tree that had the Kingsman fruit. The tree was alone in the ravine, looking out of place. It seemed to be the only thing that had grown so far.

"Alright, let's do this." Paine said with a smirk.

"It's go time!" Rikku and Yuna said, and they charged at the snake.

The snake hissed as it looked up. It got his between it's eyes by Yuna's little gun shots. Rikku lunged forwards and slashed it's nose. The snake whipped it's tail and tried to hit Paine, who slashed off the tip of the tail. hissing in fury, the snake slithered away. The three fairy's cheered.

"Hey, did that look like a Heartless to you?" Yuna asked.

"Let Leon deal with it." Paine shrugged, picking the fruit. The three started filling their pockets. (A/N: I guess their magically enhanced.)

"Great! That just leaves the Regal skin and Yamana petals." Yuna said."I think Paine's found the Regal skin." Rikku said, pointing to Paine, who was picking up the chunk of tail she had cut off the snake.

"We can get a shopkeeper to identify it." Paine said. "Now, let's find those Yamana Petals."

* * *

"Hey, why do you guys look so worn out?" Sora smiled at the fairy's. 

"Don't...ask." Yuna panted.

"We got extras of everything, just in case." Rikku said, holding up the stuff.

"Great!" Riku said.

"Where's the Yamana Petals?" Leon asked. They fairy's looked sad.

"We asked every store keeper, but no one knew where they were." Paine said apologetically.  
Sora sighed, but a light appeared in his hands - the Keyblade. It shone brightly, so bright that everyone had to close their eyes. When it faded, a yellow plant was in Sora's hand left hand, his Keyblade in his right.

"What-?" Most of them gasped.

"...Did I forget to add that the Yamana plant is the plant of light? It's leaves are what make the potion keep dark at bay." Tron's voice echoed over the computer.

"Now you tell us." Sora smirked. "Alright, let's get to work on this potion."

* * *

Sora, Kairi and Riku stayed the night at Radiant Garden Hotel. Kairi insisted she was feeling better thanks to the potion, so the next morning she joined them in walking around town. 

"Does it seem quieter to you?" Sora asked, hands behind his head.

"Nope." Kairi shrugged as they entered marketplace. "Everything seems fine."

Riku was frowning as his eyes scanned Market Place through his silver hair. "No, I think Sora's right..." He said softly.

There was a sudden flash of something black, and a portal appeared at the other side of the market.

"Is that-?" Sora gasped.

"Maleficent!" Riku shouted.

Maleficent laughed cruelly. "Ah, there's the little Princess!" She cried, pointing to Kairi. "I've heard rumors about you...but I know that there's a Heartless inside of you!"

"What do you want?"! Sora said angrily. The last time he saw this witch she was defending them, but that didn't make Sora any more cheerful to see her.

"What do I want? Well, little Kairi here must be the first one to have a Heartless living within her, and still be alive! Obviously, it's because she has so much light within her...but I wonder...could this Heartless...maybe...control her?"

Maleficent raised her hand and Kairi cried out in pain, holding her stomach and fell to the ground.

"Kairi!!" Sora and Riku shouted while Maleficent cackled. Kairi shakily got to her feet.

"You see? If ordinary people got Heartless' fused in them, why, I could rule all worlds!" Maleficent said, power ringing in her voice.

"Not with the Keyblade wielders around!" Sora said triumphantly. Both him and Riku called their blades.

"Leave some for me, Sora!" Yuffie called, jumping off the roof of a stand and landing to Sora's right and a little bit behind him.

"Think I'm gonna miss the fun?" Leon said, swinging his sword and hopping to Riku's left.

"Not you again!" Donald cried, hurrying beside Kairi and behind Leon.

"Huyck! It's Malei - Male - Mah...Maleficent!" Goofy pulled out his shield and steeled himself to Kairi's right, behind Yuffie.

"Ready to rock?!" Cid shouted swinging his lance and almost hitting Donald, who was ahead of him.

Tifa moved behind Goofy, to the lower right of Kairi.  
"Let's kick some Heartless butt." Tifa said, smashing one fist into her open hand.

I'm back." Cloud said calmly, moving in opposite of Tifa.

"I'm here too!" Aerith smiled, going behind Kairi.

"You said ALL the Keyblade warriors, right?" Mickey asked,standing straight to Sora's left, so the three Keyblade warriors were standing in the front.

Sora glanced over his shoulder and saw everyone was around Kairi in a circle, protecting her. She was glaring at Maleficent.

"I can see we shall do this another day." Maleficent grinned and faded back into the shadows.

"Coward!" Sora yelled, fury pounding in his veins.

"Sora," Leon said sharply. "Pack up your stuff, you have to leave now."

"What?" Sora asked, itching to fight something. "But why?!"

"She'll come back here for Kairi. If you care about her life, you have to pack up and go back to Destiny Islands now!""But - but-" Sora stuttered.

"Listen, we can talk on the Gummi communicator. Just pack up your stuff, and the potions ingredients for Kairi. Take books to, if you want, but if you don't want Kairi kidnaped by Maleficent you have to leave fast!"

**Author's Note: I edited this, the words were running together cause I wasn't double spacing. Sorry, won't happen again!! **Wow, so I finally finished this chapter. Phew! I hope the part where everyone circled around Kairi wasn't to confusing, and the part with the snake? I was going to have a dance off or riddle competition, lol, but decided the boring little fight scene. I'm already working on the next chapter, it's called "**One Last Wish**" and just a little teaser trailer - it's time to see Neverland again.

**PLUS! **I have something else - two new story's I have made! You can check my profile, they're **The Guardians **and **Lost Souls**. If you like RoxasxNamine, check out Lost Souls. The Guardians is about 8 people who get powers over elements to protect a certain door. Prologue and Chapter 1 are up for The Guardians, and Chapter 1 is up for Lost Souls. If you want to review them, seriously that would really make my day.


	4. One Last Wish

**Author's Note: **Wow I know loong time since I had an update, but I've been working on Lost Souls, and the story I have on my joint account with xoILuvCloudox. If your interested in looking at the story on our joint account, look up Royal's of Heart (category Kingdom Hearts) Our Penname is Namine-Pure-Kairis-Heart. Anyway on with the story, and if you notice my writing is different, mention it in a Review!

**Chapter 4**

**One Last Wish**

The Gummi Ship was silent. Sora was driving, Riku was in the co-pilot's seat, and Kairi was sitting in the remaining seat. Neither of them spoke as Sora drove, and Riku randomly pushed a button in front of him now and then, which fired the gun turrets, destroying a Heartless ship.

Kairi felt guilty, though she knew she shouldn't. She just felt like this was all _her _fault, even though she knew she didn't put the Heartless inside her. Confused with feelings, Kairi bit her lip and glanced at Sora and Riku, who both looked deep in thought.

"Oh to hell with this!" Sora shouted suddenly, spinning the wheel quickly, causing the Gummi Ship to go in another direction.

"Sora, what're you doing?!" Kairi burst out.

"I wanted to grant you a wish." Sora said, flashing Kairi his trademark smile.

"Sora, where are we _going_?" Riku asked, sounding a bit annoyed with the younger boy.

"Neverland." Sora said softly.

Within fifteen minutes the world with the clock tower was in site. A smile appeared on Sora's face as he saw it, and Riku raised an eyebrow at it. Riku's mouth opened in a small 'O' as he recognized the world. He folded his arms, the memories coming back to him. He felt ashamed of what happened, even though he knew Sora would never hold it against him.

"Riku!" Sora shouted suddenly. Riku jumped, lost in his thoughts.

"What?" He asked, alarmed.

Before Sora could respond, the ship shook violently as they were hit by an enemy ship.

Riku, realizing what was going on, quickly started firing the gun turrets at it, but the damage was done.

"We're gonna crash!" Kairi shrieked.

Sora pulled on the steering wheel, but they were already out of control, Neverland coming closer as they started to crash…

* * *

Kairi groaned as she opened her eyes, seeing she was on the ground of some forest. She pushed herself up from the ground and sat on her knees, waiting for her dizziness to disappear. 

"Am I…in Neverland?" Kairi muttered to herself. She got to her feet and looked around her - the forest seemed to go on and on, but there was an opening in front of her. She headed towards it, pushed back some vines and a low hanging tree, and gasped at the sight.

There was a beautiful, clear, water fall, the water falling into a small but deep looking lake. Kairi frowned - were those people swimming in the lake? There was someone sitting on a rock in the middle of the lake, too. Kairi took a step forward, wondering if Sora and Riku were nearby, when she was suddenly grabbed from behind.

Kairi shrieked and struggled, and suddenly was lifted from the ground - and kept rising.

"Are you working for Hook??" A voice said from behind her.

"What's a Hook?" Kairi cried out, struggling. The person dropped her slightly, only to catch her again bridal style.

Kairi could see his face now - he looked like a boy a bit older then her, wearing a ridiculous green outfit with matching hat, his brown hair and pointy ears sticking out from under it.

"Hey!" He said, his voice full of life and a bit of accusion. "You look real familiar! Are you sure you don't work for Hook?"

"What is a Hook??" Kairi asked again. "And my name is Kairi!"

"Kairi…?" The boy frowned, then his eyes widened and he smiled. "Kairi!" He said happily. "Your all better!!"

"Do I…know you?" Kairi asked, confused.

"Nope! But I know you! You're the one Sora was trying to rescue! You were on Captain Hook's boat here in Neverland!"

Kairi paused, a thoughtful look on her face as memories flashed across her mind.

"Wait, that boat….that was from this world?" (A/N: Think KH1)

"Yup! Oh, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Peter - Peter Pan!" Peter slowly landed back on the ground.

"Were we just…flying?" Kairi asked, her eyes wide.

"Of course!" Peter grinned. (A/N: yeah there's a lot of '!' marks, but meh it's Peter's fault he's so happy…)

"So what are you doing here?" Peter asked, setting Kairi down. "Have you been kidnapped again?"

Kairi giggled. "No, Sora took me here."

"Sora's here?" Peter asked happily.

"Yes, but we crash landed and got separated." Kairi said, hands behind her back.

"Well then, let's go find him!" Peter said, scooping up Kairi bridal style again.

"W-wait a minute…" Kairi said. "Are those…mermaids??" Kairi pointed to the lake, where several mermaids were playing in the water.

"Yup," Peter said. "But don't get to close - they're very tricky."

* * *

Sora and Riku were wondering around another, deeper, part of the forest. 

"I hope Kairi's alright." Riku said, looking left to right, as if expecting to see Kairi pop out and scare them.

Sora didn't answer, and Riku stopped walking to look at him. Sora stopped as well.

"Are you mad at me or something?" Riku asked.

Sora sighed. "No…just kinda mad...but not at you."

Riku waited for him to continue,

"It's just, Kairi's sick, and she's missing, and-"

"Sora!" Riku yelled suddenly, pushing Sora out of the way as an arrow flew right past where Sora had been standing and embedded itself into a tree.

Sora and Riku both called their Keyblades, and silence pressed on their ears for a moment, before several war cries echoed through the forest.

Sora and Riku prepared to attack, but then paused as they realized it was a bunch of kids - all wearing animal uniforms. There was 6 of them - One in a bear costume, one in a rabbit, one in a fox, two twins as racoons, and a little guy in a skunk outfit.

"What the…" Sora said under his breath.

"Halt!" The one in the bear uniform said. "No one of Captain Hook's passes here!"

"We aren't with Captain Hook," Sora said calmly, lowering his Keyblade, but keeping it in his hand in case they decided to shoot another arrow. "We're looking for our friend, Kairi."

"Peter says NO ONE passes here without his permission." The one in the rabbit costume spoke this time, folding his arms.

"Peter?" Sora said, glancing at Riku, who had his Keyblade raised still. "Peter Pan? I haven't seen him in ages!'

"You know Peter?" The pair of twin racoons asked at the same time.

"Sure I do, we fought off Captain Hook a long time ago."

The crazy kids didn't seem convinced.

"Yeah? Well, prove it!" The fox said stubbornly.

Riku rolled his eyes at the annoying kids, and Sora frowned, trying to see how he could prove it. His eyes lit up as he smiled and began searching threw his pockets.

"I know I have it here somewhere…Ah! Here it is!" Sora pulled out a red feather - the Keychain to his Fairy Harp Keyblade. "Peter gave this to me, see?"

Before the boys could answer, a girls voice called,

"Boys? Boys, where are you?" A pretty girl with brown hair up in a fancy bun, wearing a light blue dress came into view. She paused as she saw Sora and Riku, then gasped.

"Oh Sora! Is that really you?" She squealed.

"Hey, Wendy!" Sora said as the boys looked between Sora, Riku and Wendy. "Is Peter around?"

"Oh, I'm afraid he isn't at the moment, but he should be back soon, he said-" Wendy stopped suddenly, giving a gasp as she recognized Riku. She glared at him.

"He's on our side," Sora said quickly. "He's my best friend."

"You're the one who kidnapped that girl - Kairi." Wendy said, her lower lip stuck out in what she probably thought was a scary face, but Riku thought it was more of a childish pout.

"I was trying to save her." Riku said, finally speaking.

"Look, it's a long story," Sora said, not wanting a fight to break out between them. "But we came here with Kairi - I wanted to teach her how to fly - but our ship crash landed and now we can't find her."

Wendy and Riku were still watching each other carefully. Riku muttered something that could have been anything between an insult or apology, but Wendy took it for the latter.

"It's best to wait here for Peter, then." Wendy said, a smile back on her face. "He went off to look for Tinkerbell, but should be back soon. These are the Lost Boys, by the way." Wendy gestured towards the boys.

"Lost-?" Riku and Sora said together, but Wendy waved for them to be quiet.

"Follow me." The Lost boys started to follow Wendy as she turned around, so Sora and Riku, shrugging at each other, decided to do the same. They only took about eight steps before Wendy paused at a very old tree, circled to the side of it, and opened a secret door. The Lost boys all hurried through the little door, and Sora and Riku followed.

Inside the tree was a strange little house, with several beds (including hammocks), a table with an unlit candle in the center of the room, and a wall that was covered with a blanket.

"First, allow me to make the introductions." Wendy said cheerfully. "This is Slightly - the fox, Curly, the bear, Nibs, the rabbit, The Twins, and Tootles - the little skunk. Boys, this is Sora and Riku. You be nice to them."

Before the boys could reply, there was a loud noise like a rooster trying to wake everyone up in the morning. Sora and Riku jumped a foot in the air, and were especially shocked when none other then Peter Pan himself slid down a slide coming from the roof, Kairi in his arms.

Kairi fell softly to the ground, as Sora and Riku happily exclaimed her name.

"Kairi! Your okay!" Sora said, helping her up while Riku sighed with relief.

"Hey, if it isn't Sora!" Peter said, floating a few inches off the ground. "Haven't seen you in awhile, buddy. And this is-" He paused, and like Wendy, glared at Riku.

"Oh here we go again…" Riku groaned. "I was trying to _save_ Kairi, okay? I'm Sora and Kairi's _friend._ I'm not on Hook's side."

"It's okay, Peter." Kairi said, then turned her attention back to Sora. With slightly pink cheeks and glittering eyes, she said,

"Sora, teach me to fly!!"

**Author's Note: **Yeah I decided to end it there, because as much as I don't mind writing long chapters, I find reading really long ones can get annoying, plus if I did every chapter at 10 pages, the story would be over by chappie 10.

Anyway a funny note: In the Kingdom Hearts Manga, the Lost Boys are in it, but they aren't in the game. And in case you hadn't figured it out, this takes place in the actual Neverland. You can expect the next update really soon, because I'm working on the chapter the second I finish writing this sentence :P

**Check my profile for news, short summarys and update dates on the next chapters :)**


	5. Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust

**Author's Note: **Yup, it's an update! Amazed I didn't take forever to do it? Yeah I am too. I couldn't seem to get the chemistry just right between Sora and Kairi…I didn't want to much, because I wanted to save it for the chapters coming up. I got stuck a lot on this chapter, which is a first…anywho tell me what you think of the chappie, the ending and the chemistry!

Oh and I hired someone for the Disclaimer…

**Demyx: **Sora-Kairi-4-Ever doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, etc., etc. Do I get my cookies for doing this now?

**Chapter 5 **

**Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust**

"Well why do you think I took you here?" Sora grinned. "Of course we'll teach you to fly!"

Peter gave a cough and everyone turned to look at him.

"Well, we can't teach Kairi to fly without Tink."

"A Tink?" Kairi frowned.

"Tinkerbell." Wendy said. "She's a fairy-"

"A fairy?" Kairi interrupted happily. "Ooh I can't wait to meet an actual live fairy!!"

She turned to pout and place her hands on her hips at Sora and Riku.

"Mermaids?? Fairy's?? WHY couldn't either one of you come back to the Islands for five minutes to pick me up!! New worlds are so cool!!" She punched both of them on their upper arms, giving something between a smile and pout. She raised an eyebrow when they didn't react to the punch.

"Oh," Riku said, rubbing the spot where she punched. "Ouch…that, uh, hurt…"

Sora mimicked him, acting a bit more dramatic. "Oooh ouch!! Kairi, if I knew you punched that hard, we would have brought you with us," Sora fell to his knees dramatically, holding his arm and gasping. "…I see the light," He groaned while Kairi rolled her eyes.

"Okay dramatic Key-boy, let's find the Fairy." Riku said, pushing Sora to the floor with his foot.

"Okay!" Sora said, jumping to his feet. "But, uh…how do we get outta here…?"

"We fly, of course.' Peter said as if it was the most obvious thing.

Peter flied through the chute he had arrived in, the Lost Boys and Wendy following.

Riku crossed his arms and Kairi held her right arm behind her back with her left. Sora grinned, jumped onto the table and into the air, expecting to be able to fly. Instead he fell flat on his face, while Kairi and Riku laughed at him.

"Maybe you should try the front door!" Peter's voice came from above.

* * *

"I don't get it, I've always been able to fly." Sora said as they exited through the front door. 

"It's because you haven't had any pixie dust in almost two years." Peter explained.

"Pix-" Sora started, but Wendy's loud gasp interrupted him.

Everyone turned to look at her to see she was pointing to something in front of them. Again turning their heads, they saw a group of Heartless - nothing to tough, just shadows, soldiers and the mini mages - Blue Rhapsody, Red Nocturne, Green Requiem and Yellow Opera.

"Heartless!" Sora and Riku said in unison. They both raised their hands and called their Keyblades. Peter pulled out his dagger and stood in front of Wendy, while the Lost Boys all pulled out weapons of their own, including a Club and a Slingshot.

The nine started attacking the Heartless - Sora plunged his Keyblade through the head of a soldier, planting the blade into the ground. He did a handstand on the handle of the Keyblade, and while flipping over, pulled the blade out of the ground. His back wasn't to Kairi anymore, and he could see both Kairi and Wendy. Wendy had her hands over her mouth, and Kairi was looking amazed at Riku and Sora's fighting skills. Her facial expression turned to pain as she placed a hand over her heart and fell to her knees.

"Kairi!" Sora shouted, and promptly fell face first to the ground when a shadow heartless jumped on his back. The swish of a blade was heard and the tension on Sora's back disappeared. Sora gasped for breath for a moment, watching as Riku moved in front of him to protect him from any oncoming Heartless.

Sora pushed himself up to his feet as fast as he could manage.

"Sora, go protect Kairi. We'll finish the Heartless." Riku said, slashing effortlessly at a blue rhapsody.

"Right!" Sora held his Keyblade at his side with both hands, running towards Kairi. He dodged a fire ball sent his way by a Red Nocturne by doing a quick dodge roll, and when he pulled up from the roll found himself in front of Kairi. He remained on his knees next to her.

"Kairi!" He said anxiously. She opened her eyes, sweat forming around her forehead.

"What's wrong?!" Sora gasped.

"My…heart." She groaned. "Something's wrong…I feel the darkness, Sora…"

Kairi closed her eyes again, her hand gripping the part of her shirt over her heart tightly. She gave a soft groan, then slumped to the ground.

"Kairi!" Sora gathered her up into his arms, holding her bridal style while sitting on his knees.

"Wake up, Kai, don't be dead, please don't be dead." Sora pleaded, brushing the hair out of her face. Kairi gave a little gasp as Sora's hand touched her face, and he held it there.

"You okay?" Sora asked, worry on his face.

"The darkness is fading…" Kairi said softly. Sora didn't notice Riku come up beside the two, but glanced up when he saw Peter heading towards Wendy to make sure she was alright. The Heartless were gone.

Riku squatted down next to Kairi.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

Kairi nodded and Riku helped her to her feet. Riku looked to Sora and the two exchanged worried looks.

"Maybe we should just head back to Destiny Islands." Riku said softly, so only the two would hear.

"No!" Kairi said, stomping her foot stubbornly. "I want to learn to fly!" She stuck out her lower lip in a pout and turned to Sora. "Sora, please?"

Sora sighed. "Kai, I think Riku might be right. It's dangerous to have you in other worlds in your condition and-"

"No, listen, I may never get to see other worlds, we're here now we can't leave! The Heartless made my heart react in a weird way, yeah, but I just want to learn to fly and have fun before we have to go back to Destiny Islands and study, and make potions and be bored out of our minds!" Kairi crossed her arms and put on a determined face.

Sora and Riku looked at each other, then sighed.

"Alright." Sora grinned. "Let's find Tinkerbell."

* * *

Finding Tinkerbell didn't prove to be that hard - it was convincing her to come to them that proved difficult. 

They had found her at the Mermaid Falls. (A/N: I'm not sure if that's the actual name) She was sitting in the middle rock, her arms folded and looking determinedly in the opposite direction of them.

"Why won't she come over?" Riku asked, watching Peter call her.

"Well Tink is a bit on the…jealous side." Wendy said. "She gets jealous when I'm with Peter, and usually storms off. Don't you worry, Peter will have her over here in a moment."

"Tink you know I can just fly over there and get you!" Peter said, floating a few inches off the ground. "C'mon over here! We have a friend who wants to learn to fly!" When Tinkerbell didn't respond Peter called,

"Sora is here!"

Tinkerbell sprang up from the rock a flew over to Sora at top speed, circling around him a few times with a smile on her face. She paused and hovered close to his nose.

"Hi Tinkerbell!" Sora grinned and sparks flew out from under her wings.

"Do you remember Kairi?" Sora asked, pointing to Kairi. Tinkerbell put a hand under her chin, looking at Kairi carefully. She clapped her hands together and nodded happily when she recognized her.

"And er- Riku…" Sora said, motioning to Riku. A bell like sound came from Tinkerbell as she balled her fists, her body going a bit red with anger. She flew towards Riku, flying around his face and through his hair, throwing sparkles at his eyes.

"Hey!" Riku said in annoyance, trying to bat the fairy away.

"W-w-wait Tink, it's okay, here's our friend!" Sora said quickly, getting tired of explaining this. Wasn't it obvious that he was their friend if they were traveling together?

Tinkerbell calmed down and hovered in front of the five friends and six Lost Boys.

"Tinkerbell, we want to teach Kairi to fly. Will you help us?" Sora asked.

Tinkerbell let off a few bell like sounds (A/N: Noo idea how to explain those noises) and tuned to look at Peter.

"She says she'll help." Peter translated. "But it takes three things to be able to fly! You gotta have faith, trust, and pixie dust! Think your up for it?"

Kairi nodded and grinned. "Yeah! Let's start!"

Tinkerbell flew over Sora, Riku and Kairi, letting he Pixie Dust sparkles fall off of her and onto the trio.

Sora closed his eyes and hovered a foot off the ground, tucking one foot behind the other.

"Hey!" Kairi whined as he rose higher so his feet were level with Kairi's shoulders. "I want to fly, too!"

"And I guess I'm learning too." Riku mumbled. "Hey, It'd be helpful in battles." A smirk appeared on his lips, and Sora knew he was looking forward to learning how to fly.

"Alright." Sora grinned, floating back down to the ground. "So, as Peter said there's the three rules to flying. You need faith, trust, and the third we already have, Pixie Dust."

"That doesn't make sense." Riku said, crossing his arms. "So if I just have faith and trust that I can fly, I will?"

"Yup, just believe it and you can fly." Sora said, a wide grin on his face. Riku raised an eyebrow, thinking Sora was being a bit to optimistic, but he also knew Sora wouldn't lie to him - plus he had just seen him fly.

Riku took a breath and unfolded his arms, closing his eyes.

Kairi watched Riku, trying to pick up any tips that may help her fly. Riku didn't move off the ground and eventually opened his eyes and sighed.

"Nothing's happening." He said, stating the obvious.

Sora had a thoughtful look on his face as his blue eyes scoured the area. They stopped at the waterfall and traveled upwards.

"Perfect." He grinned.

* * *

"Your joking, right?" Riku asked, looking over the edge of the cliff and seeing the water rushing downwards. The three were standing on the top part of the waterfall, with Peter and the others watching them from below. Riku was looking at Sora like he'd lost it. 

"No, I'm serious." Sora said. "If you believe enough, just jump off and you'll be able to fly!"

"And if I don't fly?" Riku folded his arms.

"You will, don't think you can't." Sora's grin faded as he muttered. "Or the alternative is swimming with the mermaids, and they aren't the nicest bunch."

"What was that?" Riku asked.

"Nothing, I was just saying if the alternative happened it's a deep lake so you won't hurt yourself."

Riku looked unconvinced. He turned his back to the water fall and took a few steps back, so his heels were right on the edge.

"You are so dead if this doesn't work, Sora." Riku smirked and gave a light jump backwards.

Kairi screamed and Sora turned to look at her, worried something was wrong, but she was just freaked out that Riku actually did it - she had her hands over her mouth and was staring at the spot where Riku had jumped.

A long moment passed in silence. There was no splash indicating Riku had failed, but Sora yelled nervously,

"Riku?"

"You are so lucky, Sora." Riku's voice came as he floated back up and came towards them.

"See, I told you it would work." Sora said.

"Yeah, and that's why you look so relieved." Riku smirked and rolled his eyes. "You ready, Kairi?"

Kairi nodded and took a breath. She walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Sora stood next to her, while Riku floated nearby the waterfall. His attention wasn't on Kairi - the mermaids were waving to him and giggling, and he was paying more attention to them.

"Kairi, all you have to do is believe you can fly, okay?" Sora said, looking into her violet eyes.

"I know." She nodded. "Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust."

"Believe me." Sora gave a smile. "'Cause I believe you can."

She smiled and turned her back to the cliff. "Here it goes,"

Kairi closed her eyes and took a breath.

_Okay, Kai,_ She thought. _Just trust Sora…I trust Sora with my life…I can do this…_

She closed her eyes, took a breath and let her body fall backwards.

Sora smiled as he watched her fall, but then a piercing scream rang through the air.

"KAIRI!" Sora yelled, and without hesitation dived off the cliff. He sped to catch up with Kairi, fairy dust glowing around his ankles. Sora dived under Kairi, catching her about ten feet above the water.

"Kairi, are you aright?!" Riku asked as he gasped for breath- he had followed Sora at Kairi's scream, but Sora hadn't noticed.

To the boys surprise, Kairi burst out laughing and floated a few inches out of Sora's arms.

Sora and Riku gaped at her, Sora's mouth opened in an 'O'.

"What did you do that for??" Sora demanded. Kairi was in Sora's arms bridal style, and even though she hovered a few inches above his arms, he still held them out, afraid she'd fall.

Kairi laughed a bit more at the looks on their faces. "I wanted to see if I could trust you with my life. Both of you." She smiled at Riku, then turned hugged Sora tightly, still floating with her legs in bridal style. Sora blinked in surprise then let his arms come around her in a hug. He let her legs go so she could hover in a standing position.

"Thanks, Sora." She said softly. "I know you'll always be there for me. And thanks for teaching me how to fly."

Sora laughed awkwardly and let her go. "Y-yeah. It was no problem. C'mon, let's go back to the ground."

The three went back to the ground, where the Lost Boys were cheering for Sora's spectacular catch and Riku's speed.

"Riku," Slightly said. "You were faster then Sora, you got to Kairi first! Why didn't you catch her?"

Sora and Kairi looked at Riku, where the lightest of pink could be seen on his cheeks.

"No, Sora got there first." Riku said, waving away the subject with his hand. "You must have seen it wrong."

* * *

The Lost boys were very insistent on showing them around the sights of Neverland, so for the rest of the day Kairi, Sora and Riku had fun flying around, laughing and having fun. The three were especially glad they hadn't gone home after the Heartless attacked. 

"Kairi was right." Riku said. The three were watching the sunset - Peter was on the cliff on top of the waterfall with Wendy and the Lost Boys were in the nearby forest, climbing trees and goofing off.

"Right about what?" Kairi asked.

"About having fun before we head home. Glad we listened to you." Riku said while Sora chuckled.

"What?" Kairi asked, turning her head to her right to look at Sora.

"Nothing. Just thinking of when we were younger. You were right about lots of things, but I don't remember Riku ever actually admitting you were right." Sora laughed. "Even when we were nine and you told us _not_ to put the cherry bomb in the toilet at school, and we got in loads of trouble, we never said 'Kairi was right' and Kai never said 'told you so'."

The three laughed for a moment, remembering the backfiring prank.

"Guess we should head back…it's getting late." Riku said, standing up and stretching.

"Aww, I don't wanna go!" Kairi whined. She rested her chin on her knees, a sad look in her eyes.

"Hey, Kairi," Kairi looked up to see Sora holding out his hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet.

"When your all better, the three of us will come back here. And not only here, other worlds, too." Sora said, still holding her hand.

"You'll take me to see other worlds?" Kairi asked, hope lighting up in her eyes.

"Yup!" Sora grinned. "You'll see loads of other worlds with me and Riku. Promise."

They noticed they were holding hands and quickly let go.

* * *

The trio had said good-bye to their friends, but as they were heading back to the ship, Sora said he had forgotten something at Peter's place, and told the two he'd meet them at the ship. 

Flying off through the trees, Sora took deep breaths to try and calm himself. He flew of towards the waterfall, and went underneath it from the side so he wouldn't get wet. He noticed a cave behind the water fall and flew up towards it - It wasn't huge, he could see the back wall less then ten feet away.

Sora sat down and leaned against the wall, letting out a shaky sigh. Drawing his knees up, Sora burried his face in them, willing the tears not to cloud his vision.

"C'mon, Sora, pull it together." He muttered to himself.

There was a light tinkling sound and Sora jumped, then realized Tinkerbell was floating at the mouth of the cave.

"Hi, Tink." He mumbled. The tears he had been holding back ever since Kairi had hugged him hours ago finally fell down his cheeks. Tinkerbell landed on his knees, her face showing concern.

"I'm fine…" Sora muttered. "I just…don't want her to…" More tears gathered in his eyes but he cleared his throat and blinked them away.

"She's so great." Sora said softly. "I just…I don't want her to…to get hurt. What if something happens?" He looked at Tinkbell, who made a sound he didn't understand, but could tell by her face she was trying to console him.

"What if she gets really sick, and we can't find a cure in time? I don't even want to think about it! There wouldn't _be _a journey to go on to find her - she'd just be…gone."

Soa burried his face in his knees and let the tears fall freely.

* * *

Meanwhile, Riku and Kairi were waiting outside of the Gummi Ship. 

"You think Sora's okay?" Kairi asked, looking around for him.

"Yeah. I doubt there's anything here Sora can't handle." Riku replied. He frowned as he looked at Kairi. "But I'm sure _you_ need some rest. We had a long day. Go in the Gummi Ship and get some sleep."

"I'm okay. I want to wait for Sora." Kairi said. Before Riku could argue the point, there was a loud rustling noise in the trees, and Sora crashed into the ground at Riku and Sora's feet.

Kairi gave a sigh of relief while Riku laughed.

"Alright, let's get back home." Riku said, pulling open the Gummi Ship door.

_Home. _Sora liked that word. Even being away from it for a weekend, he still missed it, and was sure Kairi and Riku agreed.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't think anyone caught on, but Riku let Sora catch Kairi so there'd be some sparks hehe.

Demyx is happy with his cookies . So I guess I'll be the one to ask for Reviews - Review please:3 :D


	6. Home is where the Heart is

**Author's Note: **It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a miracle! No, it's an update! I finally finished my other story (Lost Souls) so now I can work a lot more on this one- yay!

**Chapter 6**

**Home is where the Heart is**

Kairi was being shaken awake what felt like seconds later.

"Hmm? Are we th-th-there yet?" Kairi asked, trying to stifle a yawn but failing.

"We just landed." Sora said, turning to watch Riku open the door and hop out, backpack with stuff from Hollow Bastion on his shoulder.

"After you, Kai." Sora grinned, giving a mock bow towards the door.

Kairi gave a mock curtsey in return, sticking her tongue out at him. She jumped down out of the ship, Sora following and closing the door.

"It's night already." Kairi stated the obvious - all around them was darkness, but clusters of fire flies lit some areas.

"Will the Heartless come?" Kairi asked, slightly nervous.

"No." Riku stated simply. "The Keyhole's been locked, and aside from that, I think there's to much light for Heartless to come, what with the Keyblade wielder's here."

"That's a relief." Kairi sighed.

"Let's get back to the island where our houses are." Sora said, stretching his arms and yawning. "I can hear my bed calling me."

"What's it saying, 'please don't come home, I can't stand your weight on me for one more second'?" Riku joked, and Sora pushed him.

"Uhm, guys…how are we going to get home?" Kairi asked, looking towards the docks. "Our boats aren't there."

The three looked at each other uneasily, before Sora snapped his fingers.

"I know! We can just fly there, of course. The fairy dust probably still has a few hours left, and it should only take about twenty minutes to fly across."

Kairi looked at the dark ocean, unsure. "You sure we won't fall, Sora?"

"You honestly think this knuckle-head would let you fall?" Riku asked, grabbing Sora and giving him a light noogie, which he squirmed out of fairly quickly while Kairi laughed.

"Okay, let's get going." Sora pouted, rubbing his head.

The trio walked towards the docks - Sora was first in the air, followed my Riku. Kairi was still looking unsure, so Sora and Riku each took one of her hands, lifting her into the air.

"No no, don't let go." Kairi said as they loosened their grip.

"Why? You know how to fly, Kai." Riku smirked.

"But it's creepy at night - and over the ocean."

So, holding Kairi's hands, the three flew over the chilled ocean, into the dark night.

They landed on the docks on the other side shortly later.

"Let's all just head home." Sora yawned.

"What about our parents?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms. "I think they've noticed we weren't home all weekend."

"…Good point." Sora said, a frown of concentration on his face. "Uh…maybe Merlin whipped us up a memory potion?" It was a joke, but Sora and Kairi instantly looked at Riku's bag. Riku shrugged the backpack off his shoulder and began rummaging through it.

"Wouldn't you know it…" He pulled out a bottle marked 'amnesia tonic'. There was a note wrapped around it, which Riku pulled off and read:

_Just slip this into a drink while whispering the main memory you want them to forget, and the main one you want them to remember. In this case, forgetting that you were gone all week, and remembering that you were home all week._

_-Merlin._

"Makes sense." Riku shrugged, pulling out three vials and pouring the tonic equally into each of them. Sora and Kairi each took one while Riku put his back in the backpack.

"Sleep well, guys." Riku gave a wave and Kairi cleared her throat loudly.

Riku rolled his eyes but smiled. "Sleep well _guy and girl_."

"Thank-you." Kairi smirked. "See you guys tomorrow - we'll walk to school together, right?"

"You bet." Sora nodded, and the three headed off to their houses.

* * *

A constant and annoying ringing bugged Sora - he was just about to fall asleep in his warm, cozy bed, when the darn ringing had started. He tried to ignore it and fall asleep again, until he realized it was his phone. Giving a groan he rolled out of bed - quite literally, and landed on the floor. Without opening his eyes he groped around for his cell phone, found it, and shoved it to his ear.

"What?" He slurred.

"It's me." Riku's voice came.

"And me." Kairi added, obviously in three way calling.

"Come on guys, I was _this_ close to falling asleep! What is it?" Sora gave a yawn and crawled back into bed.

"I won't take up to much time, then." Riku said, annoyed. "I just had this idea - it would be best to get the island to ourselves tomorrow, right? That way we won't be bothered when we're trying to look through the text books and stuff."

"Because everyone wants to look through text books, how exciting." Sora said, sleepy and sarcastic.

"How would we keep the others from going on the island?" Kairi asked, slightly amused by Sora's sleepy comment.

"I know it's pretty bad, but … if we steal Wakka, Tidus and Selphie's homework, they'll have detention and won't be able to come."

"Isn't that a little harsh? Their average could fall!" Kairi said.

"No, he's right." Sora sat up, giving a yawn. "We have to keep them off the islands, and if sabotaging their homework is the easiest way, then that's what we'll have to do."

"Right." Riku said.

"Fine." Kairi sighed and agreed.

"Now, if you don't _mind,_ I'm going back to bed." Sora said. "Night!" He flicked off his cell phone and promptly fell asleep.

Sora awoke to another annoying buzzing sometime later, and his hand automatically reached out and slapped his snooze button. He rolled to his other side, completely ready to fall asleep again, when he remembered he had to put the amnesia tonic in his parents morning coffee. Grumbling, Sora rolled off the bed, landing on his feet. Deciding to change later, as he liked putting off wearing his school uniform for as long as possible, Sora headed down stairs, itching his eyes and yawning.

Within a few minutes, the coffee was done, and Sora was pouring the tonic into each cup.

"Forget that I was gone for the weekend, remember me here for the weekend." Sora mumbled, then corked the empty bottle up. He scribbled a note saying,

_'Morning, here's your coffee'_, then headed back upstairs to get ready for a boring day of school.

* * *

Sora was completely ready almost ten minutes earlier then usual, which surprised even him. He headed downstairs to see his parents finishing their coffee, eating breakfast, and in his dad's case, reading the paper.

"Morning." Sora said, grabbing the cinnamon bun off his dad's plate and biting into it.

"Sora, don't you want breakfast?" His mom asked, pointing towards the stove, where scrambled eggs sizzled in the pan.

"No, I'm fine." Sora said, his mouth full of cinnamon bun. "I've got to hurry, I'm meeting Kairi and Riku."

He pulled out the milk from the fridge, drank it from the carton, and put it back.

"Oh Sora you know I hate when you do that." His mom sighed. Sora gave an apologetic wave, grabbed his backpack, and hurried out the door. At least he knew the tonic had worked, or else he would have been drilled by questions.

* * *

Sora met up with Kairi on the corner of the street - Riku wasn't there yet. Kairi was in her plaid skirt and white shirt - the obvious school uniform.

"It's a miracle." Kairi laughed, seeing Sora jogging towards her. "Not only did you beat Riku here, you aren't late!"

Sora gave a breathless laugh as he got to Kairi, trying to catch his breath.

"Crazy." Sora said. "Did Riku come down with some mysterious illness or something? The only time I've beaten him here was…uh…never. Speaking of mysterious illness', how are you feeling?"

Kairi gave him a quizzical look and Sora winced slightly. "Did that sound as bad as I think it did?"

Kairi shrugged. "Not really. I'm feeling fine. A bit clouded, but I've been worse before - There's Riku." She added, pointing down the street.

Sora turned to see Riku walking calmly towards them, hands in his school uniform pockets. Once he got to them, he didn't seem that surprised that Sora had beaten him there. In fact, his eyes were glossed over with sleep and he was yawning.

"Yes, you beat me here. Rub it in." Riku yawned again, but still managed a smirk.

"Sleep in much?" Kairi cocked her head as she looked at him.

"Didn't sleep enough. I was up half the night."

"Doing what?" Sora asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.

Riku stated walking and the two followed.

"C'mon, we got to meet up with Tidus, Selphie and Wakka. And as for what I was doing? Covering our tracks."

"Huh?" Sora said blankly.

"I got tons of e-mail's from the others, wanting to know what happened to us. I was up trying to find an excuse we could use to tell them where we were."

"What'd you come up with to tell them?" Kairi asked, holding her bag in her left hand and swinging it back and forth.

"It's a secret."

"Come on, you gotta tell us!" Sora said, ready to pull the puppy pout card.

"No, I mean I told them what we were doing was a secret, which is true." Riku said. "Hey, you come up with something better at two in the morning…anyway Selphie emailed be back this morning and she thinks we tried out our old raft idea, remember that? So I'm just going to let her think that."

"Well that falls in good with my plans for getting their homework…" Sora smirked.

* * *

"Hey, guys." Sora said as they neared the spot Selphie, Wakka and Tidus usually waited for them.

"_There_ you are!" Selphie exclaimed. "I was worried!"

"Yeah, where you been, man?" Wakka asked, hands on his hips.

"I already told you. It's a secret." Riku said boredly.

"I can guess - you three took the raft out and got lost at sea or something, right?" Tidus Said, laughing at the idea. "Whatever. C'mon, let's go before we get too late."

Selphie fell into step with Kairi behind the group of boys and they began talking. As they got closer to the school, Kairi put Sora's plan into action.

"Oh shoot, Selph, I didn't get a chance to get my homework done over the weekend." She bit her lip and looked at her friend.

"Your kidding, right? Even when you were in the hospital you managed to get your homework done." Selphie said, raising an eyebrow.

_Typical Selphie. Hasn't she realized I get all my homework done in class by now?_ Kairi thought.

"I know, but come on Selph, I let you borrow my study notes like all the time."

Selphie gave a long sigh. "Okay, okay. Just remember to give it back to me after, okay?" She rummaged in her backpack and pulled out a piece of paper with doodles and answers all over it.

"Thanks, Selph. I owe you."

"Give it back at lunch, okay?" Selphie asked. "See you in second period!"

Kairi nodded, watching her run off towards the school. Kairi sat down on the nearest picnic bench, waiting for Riku and Sora to come over.

"This is so mean, guys." Kairi sighed.

"Yeah, but at least it's not obvious." Sora shrugged, then gave a slightly evil grin. "Tidus' was sticking out of his bag, so I lit it on fire."

"What?!" Kairi gasped. "Sora, he could have noticed!"

"He didn't." Sora shrugged. "Just tossed an ice spell on is after so it wouldn't burn his bag.

Kairi shook her head, slightly disappointed in him, but extremely amused.

"Cute." She said, as the warning bell rang. Her cheeks flushed as she realized she said it out loud. Luckily, they hadn't heard over the bell.

"What was that?" Sora asked.

"N-nothing! I just asked what Riku did to Wakka's homework…" Kairi said quickly, trying to hide her blush.

"A little less destructive then Sora - just grabbed it out of his bag when he was heading to school and dropped it on the ground." Riku shrugged. "You got Selphie's?"

Kairi nodded. "But if I just throw it out or something, when she asks for it back at lunch, she'll want me to tell the teacher what happened, and instead, _I'll _end up in detention!"

"Simple." Sora shrugged. "Just change her answers - she won't notice."

Kairi looked disapproving and watched as Sora pulled the paper towards him, erasing Selphie's answers and replacing them with random words and dates.

_He is to cute._ Kairi thought, pausing to make sure she only thought it that time.

"Thanks." Kairi said, grabbing the paper and stuffing it in her bag. "Bells about to go - come on or we'll be late."

* * *

In their first two classes, Sora and Riku watched as Tidus and Wakka failed to turn in their homework, earning detention slips.

"Two down, one to go." Sora said to Riku as they headed off to find Kari in the cafeteria.

* * *

She was sitting at the table, waiting for them as usual, picking at her food. After getting their own food, Sora and Riku sat across from her - the others weren't there yet.

"I feel funny." Kairi said softly, not looking at them.

"What kind of funny?" Riku asked. "Like, Wakka funny? Or coming down with the flu funny?"

"Or just-got-off-the-roller-coaster-and-going-to-puke-funny?" Sora added. Riku gave him a weird look, but turned back to look at Kairi as she raised her head.

"Like really dizzy and woozy funny." She said.

Sora leaned forwards across the table to put a hand on her forehead. She looked paler then usual.

"Your kind of warm, but not that bad." Sora said with a frown.

Riku was looking at Kairi with a kind of concentration.

"The potion…" He said slowly. "That's it, we haven't given you the potion-!"

The three exchanged a worried look.

"I can hold out until after school." Kairi said. "Really, I'm not that bad."  
"You sure?" Sora asked, putting his hand back on her forehead.

"Yes, _mom_." Kairi joked, moving his hand off of her forehead. Without realizing it, she held onto his hand, and the two ending up holding hands on the table.

"Aw, look at the cute little lovebirds!" Selphie said, plopping down in the seat next to Kairi with her food.

"What birds?" Kairi asked, frowning as she looked at Selphie. She nodded towards Kairi and Sora's held hands, and the two pulled apart faster then you can say 'Pete's a _cat, _not a _dog_.'

Selphie giggled as she watched both of their faces go a light pink, and the two gave shy grins to each other.

"Everyone thinks you make the cutest couple." Selphie said, slurping her apple juice.

"We're not a couple." The 'lovebirds' said in unison.

"Suuuree. Kai, I need my homework back."

Kairi nervously took out the homework and handed it to Selphie, who didn't even glance at it as she stuffed it in her backpack, then took a bite out of her apple. Tidus and Wakka joined them at the table, both looking equally unhappy.

"What's with you two?" Selphie asked, spraying them with apple bits.

"Aside from the fact I now have apple on my face?" Tidus asked, wiping the apple slush off his cheek.

"We both got detention, yeah?" Wakka said, shaking his head. "Can't believe it - I swear I had my homework with me."

Selphie laughed at them while Kairi looked uncomfortably at Sora and Riku.

* * *

At the end of the day, the trio waved good-bye to their friends carrying detention slips.

"Kairi was right - that was pretty low." Sora said in an undertone as Kairi tooks ome books out from her locker.

"It's worth it if we can save Kairi's life." Riku replied quietly.

Sora nodded, watching as Kairi shut her locker.

"Ready - let's head to the island." Kairi smiled, though Sora still noticed she was pale.

"Right. The sooner we get you the potion, the better." Riku said, and the three left the school, their thoughts already off their detention clad friends, and on other matter's involving Maleficent and curing Kairi.

* * *

Once on the island, they headed straight to the Gummi Ship, where Kairi took the potion. Sora and Riku grabbed armfuls of books while Kairi carried a blanket. They decided to stay by the docks, just in case someone did come, plus it was more relaxing reading on the beach then in the stuffy Gummi Ship. Kairi laid out the blanket on one of their favourite spots on the beach, while Sora and Riku dumped the books onto it.

"You can just relax, Kairi." Sora said, plopping down and opening a green book.

"I want to help." Kairi said quickly.

"You can help by relaxing and not getting any sicker." Riku pointed out. "Work on your tan or whatever it is girl's do." He added jokingly.

Kairi stuck her tongue out then lay down on the blanket. On second thought, a nap _did_ sound good…

* * *

**Author's Note: **Didn't mean to make it so long but I didn't want to cut it off either. There wasn't much action, but hey, it's an update, right? Reviews please : ) Next update date is March 29th, but odds are I'll have it done before then.


	7. Leaving Again?

**Author's Note: **Yes, got this up a day earlier then expected : ) Couldn't think of a good chapter name, though : ( Read the bottom Author's Note, too!

**Chapter 7**

**Leaving again?**

Sora yawned as he walked slowly to their usual spot he met Kairi and Riku in the morning. It was a bit foggy and cloudy out, and the weather was putting Sora in a worse mood.

They hadn't found anything in the books the day before, and Sora knew they had to have read at least ten. The fact that nothing had turned up in the books frustrated him, but he was nowhere near ready to give up.

Lost in his thoughts, Sora didn't realize he was at the spot until he saw Riku's school shoes. Raising his head, he realized it was only him and Riku.

"Kairi not here yet?" Sora frowned.

Riku shook his head no. "Not like her - usually she's here first. But she has had some days where she's here last because of her 'hair issues'."

Sora nodded slightly - he wasn't in the mood to find the joke funny. He looked towards the street Kairi usually came from.

"I got a bad feeling." Sora said, frowning. Despite his bad mood and frustration, he had a feeling something was wrong.

"I can call her house." Riku offered, pulling out his black cell phone, which Sora scowled at slightly. He always found it unfair Riku had a cell phone and despite the begging to his parents, he never got one.

"Grow up." Riku said, knowing what Sora was thinking. He started counting rings as he waited for Kairi to pick up. On the eighth ring a male voice said,

"Hello?"

**(A/N:** I just have to say, I don't know how many people know that Kairi lives with the mayor, but in the first Kingdom Hearts in the flashback scene, they say 'the new girl at the mayor's house', since obviously Kairi has no family - she lived in Hollow Bastion before. Just a note for those who forgot about lil old KH1.)

"Er, Hi Mr. Mayor." Riku said awkwardly. "Is Kairi there by any chance?"

"Oh dear. You haven't heard, have you?" The mayor sounded said, which got Riku anxious.

"Haven't heard what?" Riku asked nervously.

"Last night Kairi started having strange spasms in her sleep. I couldn't get her to wake up, so I had to take her to the hospital…they think she's in a coma right now."

Riku's mouth hung open while Sora whispered urgently,

"What? What's wrong? Whaaaatttt?"

"I understand. Thank-you. Yes. Have a good sleep, Mister Mayor…" Riku sighed and shut his phone.

"What!?" Sora asked desperately.

"She's in the hospital. In a coma." Riku said tonelessly.

"We're ditching school and going to see her then, right?"

"Hell yes." Riku said as if it were the most obvious thing on all of Destiny Islands. "The Mayor said he had been with her all night and he was going to sleep for the morning, and we're the first people he's told about Kairi, so we shouldn't run into anyone."

"What're we waiting for?" Sora asked, setting off at a sprint towards the hospital. Riku caught up and was soon in front of him, and soon it was a race.

Sora glanced around sadly - a race wasn't a race without Kairi.

* * *

Once at the hospital, the two caught their breath while looking around.

"Do you think we can just ask where she is?" Sora asked, looking around in an unsure way.

"Not much else we can do." Riku pointed out, and the two headed to the reception desk.

After telling them Kairi's name, the stressed looking nurse took them to her room, before hurrying off to attend to someone other thing.

Sora's first thought was that he should have brought flowers, seeing some pansy's in a vase - then he remembered they had dashed there from the route to school.

Sora turned his attention to Kairi as Riku shut the door without looking by giving a kick behind him. To Sora, Kairi just looked like she was sleeping. An IV was in her arm but aside from that she looked so normal Sora just wanted to shake her and tell her to wake up before they were late for school.

Riku had moved beside her bed, watching her breath deeply.

"What happened…" Sora asked softly. "How did she get so ill so fast?"

"She's fighting the darkness." Riku said simply.

Sora moved to Kairi's other side, frustration building in him until he burst out,

"Why do we have to stay here?! We're not going to find a cure in those dumb books - Kairi's getting worse and we're running out of time - if we leave Destiny Islands I bet we could find a cure!"

Riku eyed Sora for a long moment before nodding. "As much as I agree with you, do you honestly think its okay to leave Kairi here by herself?"

"Of course not." Sora said, giving Riku a bit of a glare.

"I think we better tell Leon what's happened." Riku said. "We can come back and see Kairi afterwards." He added, seeing Sora's gaze drift to Kairi.

Sora nodded. "Alright. Be safe, Kairi. We'll be back soon."

* * *

"So, Kairi's in a coma…the darkness is working faster then we thought." Leon said, his image on the Gummi Ship screen. His eyes were closed and his arms folded.

"Look, Leon," Sora said, about ready to burst out about leaving the islands, but Riku suddenly pushed him off screen, causing Sora to trip over the garbage can. Ignoring his friend, who now had the garbage can stuck on his head, Riku continued talking to Leon.

"…Do we have security measures around Destiny Islands?" Riku asked, trying to get a certain piece of information out of Leon.

Leon opened his eyes and noticed Sora wasn't there, but like Riku ignored it - knowing Sora he was probably doing something stupid. (**A/N: **Everyone is so mean to Sora…--)

"Yes." Leon said simply.

"So…what kind of security do we have?" Riku asked, seeing Sora pull the garbage can off his head out of the corner of his eye. A banana peel was in his hair and some yogurt on his cheek - he didn't look to happy about it.

"…Well for one, Destiny Islands won't show up on any computer maps, so no one would know how to get here. If an enemy _did_ find the place by mistake and landed, you would be alerted by -"

"So someone like Maleficent couldn't get here?" Sora interrupted, quickly moving into view of the camera.

"Not likely. If she flew around the galaxy for weeks she'd probably stumble upon it at some point…" Leon raised an eyebrow as Sora pulled the banana peel out of his hair.

"Look, we're getting no where fast on finding a cure for Kairi," Sora said, starting up his rant again. "And we need one, _fast._ Me and Riku,"

"Riku and I," Riku corrected under his breath.

"_Riku and I_," Sora said while rolling his eyes. "Figured we could leave Destiny Islands…and Kairi…for just a bit, to try and find some sort of clue as to where we can get a cure!"

The brunette folded his arms stubbornly while Leon looked at the two younger boys.

"Normally I would say no…but with Kairi in a coma…" Leon gave a nod. "Pack your bags - your coming back to Hollow Bastion."

Sora punched the air with his fist proudly. "Great. But first we've got to see Kairi - we'll leave this afternoon. That alright?"

Leon gave another nod. "See you then." And cut off communication.

* * *

Not long after, Sora was found walking into Kairi's room, alone. Riku had said he would pack up some things while Sora was visiting Kairi - he had an all-knowing smirk on his face as he said that, which really bugged Sora. He shook it off as he shut the door behind him, seeing Kairi was in the exact same position as before. Kneeling by her bed rather then sitting in a chair, he looked at her sadly, before carefully taking her hand in his.

It felt so soft and smooth - unlike his callused ones from fighting - but he also noticed how much warmer his hands were to hers. Running his thumb over the back of her cold hand, Sora stared at her face, willing her to just open her eyes.

_What if she never opens her eyes…_ Sora thought. _What if she…_ Sora shook his head, trying to keep the bad thoughts out of his mind.

"I'm so sorry, Kairi..." Sora said softly, putting his head against the boring hospital blankets. "I wish I could do more to help..."

And then it came to him. Hades was part of the underworld, he could keep Kairi from…well Sora didn't want to have to think of the 'D' word. Sora suddenly sat bolt upright, but heard Riku's voice beside him, making him jump - he hadn't realized he was there.

"Don't even think about it Sora."

"Think about what?" Sora asked innocently.

"Don't be tempted by the dark." Riku was looking at his best friend as if feeling slightly betrayed.

"But maybe Hades could save Kairi-"

"Oh, yeah," Riku scowled. "He could save Kairi alright. Then he would use her as a slave, or turn her to Maleficent or something. Only we can save Kairi."

Sora looked at the silent Kairi, a frown on his face as he watched her breath in and out.

"You right." He said finally. "No matter what, Kairi, we'll get you out of this. I promise."

He then turned to look at his silver-haired friend.

"How did you know I was thinking of using the dark-?" Sora questioned. "Are you like, psychic or something…?"

Riku scoffed. "Hardly. It was the look in your eyes - like hunger for more…it's a look I've seen by too many people before."

Sora knew he was referring to when Riku was with Maleficent, and he felt a sudden guilt wash over him.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"Happens to the best of us." Riku said gruffly. "We better make sure we have everything."

"Right…" Sora realized he was still holding Kairi's hand, but he smiled slightly instead of letting go. "Don't worry about a thing, Kai." He said quietly. "You'll be better soon."

And he did something he knew he'd never do if Kairi was conscious - he lifted her hand, kissed it, and stood up.

"That's all she gets?" Riku said as they left the room. "Just a kiss on the hand? Why not on the cheek or hey, the lips?"

"Shut up Riku."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Unfortunately it's going to be about a week before I can update, because I went through my plot lines and decided it was too short, and not enough action, so I'm stuck re-writing the plot line to get more action in it - sorry 'bout the delay, but I'm not finding this story isn't as good as my other one that I just finished, so…yeah. I never thought I'd ask this, but…**If you have any idea's, please let me know. **I know how the story will end, but **any idea's would be appreciated. **Thanks, ladies and gents : )


	8. Awakened and Seperated

**

* * *

**

**Author's Note: **There's a random character in here I just had to throw in, because I got permission to use him. He's from TLSoulDude's fanfic, Prince of Heart, and he has the ability to fly, but _only _when there's sunlight, and he knows about other worlds. Enjoy : ) !

**Chapter 8**

**Awakened and Seperated**

Kairi rolled slightly in her hospital bed - the sun was shinning, and flowers were on her night stand. She opened her eyes and blinked several times, a frown on her face.

"What the-?" Kairi rolled onto her back and sat up, looking around in confusion. "The hospital…?" She tried her best to remember how she had managed to get here, but nothing came to mind. The door opened, and her father, The Mayor, came in. He looked tired and frazzled, and his moustache looked like it hadn't been combed in days.

"Kairi - your awake!: He seemed shocked.

"What am I doing here…?" Kairi asked blankly.

"You were in a coma, Kairi." Her dad said gently, sitting on the chair beside her. "And a very short one a that!" He gave a light chuckle and grinned. "It's only Tuesday afternoon, and you fell into the coma very early Monday morning. It's a miracle your awake so soon!"

Kairi knew it wasn't a normal coma she had been in - her heart was aching, and she knew the Heartless was trying to give her a super hard time.

_I have to take the potion… _She remembered.

"Where are Sora and Riku?"

The Mayor's face fell slightly at that.

"I'm sorry dear, but they've been missing since yesterday morning…They didn't show up at school, and no one has seen them since."

Kairi had to quickly rearrange her facial expression from bad to a pretend upset - she knew immediately they must have left Destiny Islands, thinking she was really sick. Hadn't she told them a million times never to leave her alone again - that she wanted to come on the adventures with them? Shaking it off, Kairi suddenly grabbed her head in pain, a memory flashing through her brain.

"_I'm so sorry, Kairi…" Sora's voice said, echoing through the darkness of her sleep._

Kairi opened her eyes to see her father looking at her with concern.

"I'm okay, really." Kairi smiled. "I think I'm good to go home, actually."

Of course her father disagreed, and went off to find the nurse. When he left, Kairi tried to figure out what that weird flash was. Closing her eyes, she felt she could almost remember a full conversation: _"But maybe Hades could save Kairi-" "Only we can save Kairi."_

_"No matter what, Kairi, we'll get you out of this. I promise."_

She knew it must have been a conversation between Sora and Riku before they left. She glanced around the room to look for note, but saw nothing. Sighing, she laid back against her pillows, already thinking about how she could find them. King Mickey wouldn't want to help her leave the islands, and neither would Leon…

"Darn you, Sora…Riku…why'd you have to go _again?_"

* * *

Kairi stood on the docks later in the evening. They had released her from the hospital, she had snuck to the islands and taken her potion, and convinced her dad to let her stay out longer for 'fresh air'. Starring over the ocean to their special island. She knew there _had_ to be a way she could get to where Sora and Riku were. A boy's voice came from behind her, though it didn't scare her.

"Hey, Kairi!"

Kairi turned to see Ryan Syrus standing there. The blond haired, blue eye kid was almost always on her nerves - mostly because he was always trying to go out with her. Kairi shut him up before he could ask:

"Ryan, your two years younger then me. How many times do I have to reject you before you get the hint?" Kairi sighed, putting her hand to her head. "Almost wish I was back in that coma…" She added sarcastically.

"Aw, c'mon Kairi, pleaasee?" Ryan asked, looking at her hopefully with a happy grin. She eyed him for a minute before pushing his chest, causing him to fall into the ocean.

"How 'bout no?"

Kairi gave a sigh and continued to look out over the ocean, ignoring Ryan as he splashed around, trying to get out of the water. A frown came on Kairi's face as she thought about how she was going to find Sora and Riku.

"You could have said no in a nicer way, Princess!" Ryan called sarcastically. She rolled her eyes, but then it hit her: she was a Princess of Heart, why shouldn't she be able to transport to other worlds?

Closing her eyes, Kairi put a hand over her heart, thinking with all her might at the place she knew Sora and Riku probably were - Radiant Garden. Taking deep breaths, she felt something in her mind shift, as if she had suddenly bridged the barrier between her and her magic.

"Radiant Garden…" She whispered, every part of her focused on it. And before Ryan's eyes, she disappeared in a sea of shimmering lights.

"Rather risk her life teleporting to Radiant Garden then go out with me." Ryan huffed and hit the water with his hand. He attempted to fly out of the water, and hovered a few inches above it, only to fall back in again. Looking at the sky, he realized the sun had just gone down behind the horizon. Muttering curses, Ryan started swimming back to shore.

* * *

Kairi opened her eyes to see she was at Radiant Garden - and halfway to the sky in front of her was Sora and Riku's Gummi Ship.

"No! Wait!" Kairi yelled hopelessly, watching as they disappeared from the world. "Sora, Riku…!" Kairi gave a yell of frustration -she had been so close! She kicked the ground and sat down, hugging her knees and glaring at the sky.

"…Kairi?"

Kairi turned her head to see Leon walking towards her.

"What are you doing here? Sora and Riku said you were in a coma - wait, how did you even get here?" He eyed her suspiciously, as if thinking she might be some sort of impostor.

"I woke up." Kairi grumbled simply. "And knew Sora and Riku must have come here, so I thought that if I have Princess of Heart powers, why not use them?"

"You shouldn't have." Leon said sharply. "It's dangerous - you didn't know what you were doing."

Kairi gave him a slight glare. "Could I use my powers to get rid of this Heartless?"

Leon sighed and shook his head no. "Sorry, Kairi. That was the first thing we though of, but we did some research and it wouldn't have worked."

Kairi changed topic's at lightning speed. "Where have Riku and Sora gone?"

"Not telling." Leon said, offering her his hand. "One, if I tell you, you'll use your powers to teleport there, which is dangerous. Two, where they are is _extremely _dangerous."

Kairi took his hand and stood up.

"If it's so dangerous why are they there?"

"Extremely dangerous for _you._" Leon corrected himself. "Kairi, your friends are trying to save your life. Don't jeopardize it."

"Fine." Kairi said simply. "Then I guess I'm staying here. Wouldn't want to jeopardize it by going back home, right?" Kairi smiled and started walking in the direction of Merlin's house. She knew she was being a bit rude, but she hated being away from her two best friends.

* * *

Sora and Riku had landed on their world - The World that Never Was. After doing some research in Ansem the Wise's computer, Leon and the gang asked Sora and Riku to go to their current world - apparently, there were some extremely important papers regarding the Heartless in this world.

"Where are we going to start?" Sora asked, looking around curiously.

"The castle?" Riku suggested, pointing towards the looming castle ahead.

"You honestly think we can find a couple of papers in such a big place?" Sora asked as they walked through the town like place.

"Only one way to find out."

* * *

After a few minutes, Sora and Riku were in the castle. Sora looked around the huge place uncertainly, while Riku crossed his arms, obviously deep in thought.

Sora watched his friend and didn't speak until Riku gave a nod and opened his eyes.

"I have an idea where they might be." Riku said. "Follow me. We have to go higher."

* * *

They reached the level where Sora had fought Xigbar not so long ago.

"I don't see any papers, Riku." Sora said, putting his hands behind his head.

"Not yet, but let's go through there." Riku pointed towards a door, hardly visible because the room was so big, even though the door was a normal size.

Sora raised an eyebrow at the silver haired teen, but followed anyway. When he opened the door cautiously, an office like place was revealed - papers were scattered around, files, notes, computers - they had hit the jackpot.

Sora's jaw dropped. "How on Destiny Islands did you know this was here??"

"Lucky guess." Riku grunted, though Sora knew he was hiding something.

"Wait, this place doesn't look deserted…these look like they were put here recently." Sora said, picking up a folder.

Riku suddenly looked at his friend sudden surprise on his face.

"What?"

"Sora, _Maleficent _lives here now!" Riku said quickly. "Remember? She wanted the place for herself? These are probably _her_ files." Riku spat the word 'her' out.

"Your kidding!" Sora groaned. "What if she's here, right now?"

"We better hurry and find what we're looking for, then." Riku immediately turned and started searching through folders. "Ew…Maleficent's shopping list…#47 Plum lipstick…" Riku shuddered slightly and pushed it aside.

Sora found a lot more files on Kairi then he thought would be there - most were from a year and a half ago, when Maleficent was trying to get all the Princesses of Hearts together. The first piece he came across that was about Kairi's condition now was just a log entry, saying what they already knew. Getting slightly anxious, he heard a sudden gasp from Riku and spun around.

"What??"

"Nothing." Riku said quickly, pushing a black folder behind his back.

"What's that?" Sora frowned and made to reach for it. Riku hesitated before handing it to him.

"Why were you hiding this?" Sora frowned, starting to open it.

"Read it and you'll see why." Riku sighed, shaking his head.

Sora's sea blue eyes scanned back and forth as he read, a frown appearing on his face. One he finished reading, his eyes widened.

"Riku-!" He gasped. "This tells us everything we need to know about Kairi's Heartless, even where it is in her heart - the exact location!" Sora's face went back to worry as he glanced at the papers. "…How did she get this information…?"

"Read the next page, Sora." Riku sighed. Sora, just noticing there was a second page, flipped it over and read it:

_The Heatless located in the Princess's heart is in a very delicate location - the part of her heart that connects her to someone. Though the person she is connected to is unknown, if that person were to die, the Heartless would go with it, but the Princess would stay alive. I must get my hands on her and test this theory, so -_

Sora stopped reading suddenly and stared at the paper. "I'm connected to Kairi…" He said softly.

Sora looked hopefully up at Riku. "This means it _is_ possible to get rid of the Heartless! We know how!"

Riku's face changed from calm to angry in half a second. "Sora are you _nuts?? _How stupid can you get?"

Sora glared and took the offence. "Thanks a ton_, Riku."_

"I'm just saying - isn't it obvious Maleficent planted this information? She knows you'd try and save Kairi - if you sacrificed yourself, you'd be out of her way! It's what she _wants!_"

"Or maybe this is _actual _information and we can actually save Kairi!" Sora glared, a slight pout on his lips. "I'd do anything to save Kairi, I've already sacrificed myself once before for her."

"But this time, you _won't _come back!" Riku said through clenched teeth. "The Heartless probably isn't even on that part of her heart - you die, Maleficent has Kairi, and the Key-brat is out of the way."

"So now I'm a Key-brat?" Sora shouted angrily.

"No, You're a Key-Idiot for falling for her plan like this!"

The two glared at each other, both wanting to spit insults. Sora threw the folder down at Riku's feet, the papers still in his hand. He stormed out of the room, sticking the papers in his pocket, while Riku kicked the chair, causing it to slide across the room and topple over.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Dun dun dun…is it really Maleficent's plan, or is that really the way to defeat the Heartles…? And thank-you, TLSoulDude, for letting me use your OC's :D

Might take a little over a week to update...Exams are coming, and so is a dance competition :S Please Review :)


	9. Saved and Sacrificed

**Author's Note: **Just like to start out by saying how sorry I am this was late! I've been really sick all day and so tried my best to finish it, and before that I got the update date wrong…just like to give a random thanks to TLSoulDude, for always reminding me to update :)

On a side note I added a new KH movie to Youtube (username: RoxasKairi)

**Disclamier: Don't own Kingdom Hearts baby. **

**Chapter 9**

**Saved and Sacrificed**

The reason the two Keybladers hadn't run into Maleficent was because she was at Radiant Garden, looking for a certain princess. Said Princess was currently in the Market Place of Radiant Garden, sitting on the roof of Scrooge McDuck's ice cream store. She was supposedly 'watching' his current ice cream while he went to pick up another order of stock.

_Yeah, if watching means eating, I'm all set. _Kairi thought, licking her ice cream while staring at the almost cloudless sky. A frown settle on her face as she thought of Sora and Riku, wondering what they were doing and if they were alright. Leon still refused to tell her anything, saying that when they came back, they could tell her.

The frown deepened on Kairi's face as she heard a sound behind her. Seeing how she was on the roof she found it unusual, but she turned around hopefully, thinking Sora was trying to surprise her.

Instead of a shriek of happiness that her friends were back, a shriek of terror escaped her lips, before her vision went black.

* * *

When Kairi opened her eyes she saw she was in a cage - hanging far from the ground. (A/N: Was in Kh2...)

She ran to the bars and grabbed them, wishing she could just pull them off. Tears formed in her eyes but she shook her head, forcing them to disappear.

"No!" She screamed, to no one in particular. "LET-ME-OUT!" She kicked the bars on each syllable.

"Damn you, Maleficent…" The red-head muttered as she slid to the ground.

* * *

Sora jumped afoot in the air, feeling a vibration come from somewhere in his pocket. Still seething and slightly hoping it was Riku trying to talk to him, Sora pulled out his communicator, only to see Leon's face looking back at him.

"Oh, hi Leon." The brunette mumbled.

"Sora! We got trouble - Maleficent was here and she took Kairi." Leon said in a sharp tone.

"What?" Sora raised an eyebrow. "Kairi wasn't in Radiant Garden. She's at Destiny Islands, in a coma." His heart was starting to race now.

"Kairi _isn't _in Radiant Garden - not anymore. She came here looking for you two just as you left, but Maleficent has her and -"

"And she's probably here!" Sora finished the sentence.

"Right. I've already told Riku." Leon gave a slight glare. "So you two quit fighting like an old married couple and find her!"

Sora scowled as his communicator went black. He shook his head slightly, knowing Leon was right - at least about the not fighting and finding Kairi part.

Sora took a breath to come himself and looked around, debating which direction to go in. "Okay, typical bad-guy kidnapping good-guy scenario is they throw them in the dungeons…right?" He asked to seemingly know one. "And dungeons are usually in the basement…so I guess my best bet would be down."

Sora pocketed his communicator and took off towards the lower levels, just as, a few corridors away, Riku was talking to himself about the same thing.

"If dungeons are normally on lower levels, then Sora's probably going to head down there without really thinking. So I guess I should head up, jut in case they are up there…"

Riku pocketed his own communicator and took off for the upper-levels.

* * *

Sora jogged down a flight of steps, taking two at a time. He skidded to a halt as he gazed in awe at the room. There were cages hanging from the walls, and stretch of ground extended between the two rows. The stretch of white, shiny tile was just wide enough for a car to drive on, though Sora doubted there were any cars down here.

The brunette looked around curiously, taking a cautious step. The floor seemed to be waxed recently, but he didn't slip and his shoes didn't squeak, so he took a few more cautious steps. His ears perked up as he heard something - it sounded like snuffling. The Keyblade Wielder paused as he listened, recognizing the sound as crying.

Not wanting to make a noise in case it wasn't Kairi, Sora snuck forward, his muscles tense for battle. He peered into the first cage on his left once he reached it, but it was empty.

Sora paused as he tried to figure out which cage the sound was coming from - it was defiantly his left.

Once again keeping his body ready for battle, Sora walked forwards, peering into the huge cages. The sound got closer after he had passed about four cages on his left, and he started to run towards it, stopping suddenly in front of a certain cage.

The girl in the cage had her knees drawn up to her face, and her body was shaking gently with sobs.

"Kairi!"

Kairi looked up suddenly and gasped, before running to the bars.

"Sora! You-your really here!" She said, surprise and happiness mixed in her voice.

"Of course!" Sora gave her his trademark grin. "Now we just gotta figure out how to get you out of there…"

There was at least an eight foot difference between Sora and the cage. He looked around, trying to figure out what he could use to get her out.

"Aha!" Sora said triumphantly, before disappearing form Kairi's view.

"Sora?" Kairi asked, slightly worried as she strained to see where he went. It only took a second for him to reappear, carrying a long metal pole.

"Where'd you get that?" Kairi asked, surprised.

"One of the cages is on the ground all busted up." Sora said simply. "It's one of the bars."

The brunette placed it on the ground and slid it across to the cage.

"Wa-wa-wa-wait." Kairi said, not stuttering but stern. "You want me to walk across that tiny little bar?"

"C'mon Kai," Sora said soothingly. "I know you can do it!"

"Your just saying that because you don't have to do it." Kairi mumbled.

"Well if you'd rather stay in the cage.." Sora teased.

Kairi gave a loud sigh and Sora called his Keyblade. He pointed it to the lock, and the cage door swung open with a slight creek.

"Ok, adjust it on your side, and I'll keep it steady here." Sora crouched down and held the pole tightly. "Ready?"

"No…" Kairi muttered, placing a single foot on the bar and testing it. She put all her weight on the one foot, testing her balance, before putting it back down.

"What if I fall, Sora?" Kairi asked with anxiety. "It's a long way down…"

"So don't look down." Sora said. "Just…keep your eyes on me."

Kairi sighed. "Well, at least the pole's wide enough for my foot." Her eyes locked with Sora's and she took the first step on the pole, away form the cage. Her arms were spread, trying to keep her balance. He lifted her right foot and slowly placed it in front of her left.

'There you go," Sora said. "Your doing it…"

Kairi took six more careful, slow steps. She was only three steps away from Sora, almost jumping length. Anxious to get to the other side, she took a slightly quicker step - and caught her right toes on her left heel.

"Kairi!" Sora shouted as Kairi shrieked. Sora quickly let go of the pole in time to just barely catch Kairi and pull her away from the edge.

Kairi took several quick shaky breaths before Sora embraced her tighter in a hug. Kairi, still slightly shook up, hugged Sora back in a bone crushing way. The two stood there, both embracing each other.

* * *

Riku, unlike Sora, had his Way To The Dawn Keyblade out, ready for battle. After climbing several floors, he finally heard a voice. Clutching the hilt of his Keyblade, he peered out from behind the corner to see Maleficent, pacing around the room and muttering to herself. Riku felt anger come over him as he stared at the witch who had caused so much trouble. He took a step into the room, causing Maleficent to turn and jump slightly, as if she hadn't expected anyone.

"I know what your up to." Riku said with a glare - he was ready to take her on if he had to.

"What do you mean?" Maleficent snarled, not even bothering to say hello.

"I know you planted those files so Sora would find them - so he would be convinced he had to kill himself so the Heartless would leave Kairi." Riku said, his eyes and tone as cold as ice.

Maleficent let out a cackle. "My dear boy, I thought you were so much smarter then that." She continued to laugh for a minute before continuing. Riku continued to hold his blade steady at his side.

"You have no idea how wrong you are, little boy." She snarled slightly. "To make my plan complete, I _need_ the Keyblade master…I also need that wretched Princess and the Heartless inside of her." She paused and realized something. "You were in my files…my things, weren't you." She didn't say it like a question. "You'll pay for that!"

She snarled and raised her hand, just as Sora walked into the room with a steely expression, followed by Kairi.

"Wait...if I sacrifice myself, Kairi will not only live...but your plans will be foiled, too?"

Sora said, then looked between Maleficent and Riku before turning to Kairi.

"Kai…" He said softly - Maleficent seemed to have momentarily forgotten about how mad she was, in spite of the Keyblade Master showing up. Kairi started shaking her head violently.

"Sora don't be reckless!" Kairi said, fighting to hold back tears.

Sora looked at Kairi, heartbreak in his eyes. The Keyblader placed his hands on the princesses shoulders, then pulled her towards him as he leaned in to catch her lips.

Kairi's eyes widened slightly before she shut them, still fighting back the tears as Sora held her close. Kairi felt like it was just getting started and never had to end, but Sora pulled back abruptly and looked at Riku.

"Take care of her." He said before whispering softly,

"I'm sorry, Kairi."

Before anyone could react, Sora called his Keyblade and thrust it into his heart. Kairi gave a sharp gasp and clutched her heart in pain as she felt the Heartless die, and as she felt the pain from Sora - her secret love.

Kairi fell to her knees in pain, watching as Sora slowly fell backwards and disappeared in a flurry of lights. Through the lights Kairi could see Riku battling Maleficent, and just before the last light faded, Kairi passed out.

**Author's Note: **Ha bet you didn't see that coming! Lol I love being the author. No, this isn't the last chapter. And Yes, the next chapter will be the last, unless I decide to a) make a sequel and post it or b) add the sequel onto this story. So review and tell me what you think!


	10. Thanks to Him

**Author's Note: **This is the last chapter / Epilogue kind of thing...Note that the Sequel, Invisible Heart 2, has been posted )

**Chapter 10 / Epilogue**

**Thanks to him**

Kairi was back on the islands, but it felt nothing like home to her. At the moment, she was crawling under the bushes, into Secret Place. She walked through the cave, before sitting down in the sands and pulling out a sharp rock.

"I'm still here, thanks to you." Kairi whispered softly.

She found a blank spot, nearby the one of her and Sora giving each other a paupo fruit, scratched in the date and then started writing,

_Walking this road,_

_Without you._

_To remake forgotten promises and meet you at roads end_

_Faded memories,_

_Reconstructed memories_

_A dream - a dream of you, _

_In a world without you_

_A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory_

_A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream_

_I want to line the pieces up_

_Yours and mine_

Tears fell silently from Kairi's cheek onto the sand. She was free, thanks to him. She was alive, thanks to him. She learned what love was, even for a brief moment.

Thanks to him.


End file.
